W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Price Target Raised to $1,355.00

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) had its price target hoisted by Stephens from $1,300.00 to $1,355.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,170.00 to $1,337.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,199.13.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 1.2%

GWW opened at $1,252.57 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,130.43 and a 200 day moving average of $1,065.91. The company has a market cap of $59.13 billion, a PE ratio of 33.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.04. W.W. Grainger has a 12 month low of $906.52 and a 12 month high of $1,286.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.69, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $11.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $1.44. The company had revenue of $4.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 47.87%. W.W. Grainger’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.86 EPS. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 44.250-46.250 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that W.W. Grainger will post 45.24 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th will be issued a dividend of $2.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. This represents a $9.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.26. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is presently 26.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 1,488 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,114.28, for a total transaction of $1,658,048.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,745,625.48. The trade was a 12.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of W.W. Grainger

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,462,252,000 after acquiring an additional 104,607 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,019,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,037,728,000 after acquiring an additional 23,399 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,217,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,230,214,000 after acquiring an additional 10,533 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in W.W. Grainger by 1,462.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,071,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,081,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,003,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in W.W. Grainger by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,027,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,036,584,000 after purchasing an additional 389,589 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About W.W. Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc (NYSE: GWW) is an industrial supply distributor founded in 1927 and headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company supplies maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services to businesses, institutions and government customers. Over its long history Grainger has developed a broad product assortment and a national distribution network that supports operations across a range of end markets, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation and public sector organizations.

Grainger’s product portfolio spans core categories such as electrical and lighting, safety and personal protective equipment, material handling, motors and power transmission, plumbing and HVAC, fasteners and adhesives, hand and power tools, and janitorial and facility supplies.