131,258 Shares in W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW Purchased by Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec

Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 131,258 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,563,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the second quarter valued at $6,303,024,000. 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 valued at $1,081,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,237 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at $518,958,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 34,269.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 435,466 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $439,407,000 after purchasing an additional 434,199 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 61.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,027,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,036,584,000 after purchasing an additional 389,589 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised W.W. Grainger from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings raised W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,286.62.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 2.8%

GWW stock opened at $1,337.59 on Thursday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $906.52 and a fifty-two week high of $1,419.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.10, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $1,345.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1,233.47.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $12.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $11.30 by $0.71. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 48.73%. The company had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $9.97 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 45.500-47.250 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 46.1 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be paid a $2.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $9.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

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.