Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 3,488 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 26.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,488 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $15,741,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GWW. Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the 3rd quarter worth about $721,202,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $536,916,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in W.W. Grainger by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,627,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,853,714,000 after buying an additional 238,895 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in W.W. Grainger by 46.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 443,386 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $422,529,000 after buying an additional 140,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in W.W. Grainger during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,913,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GWW shares. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $1,250.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,150.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,006.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,045.75.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,079.42 on Friday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $893.99 and a fifty-two week high of $1,103.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,016.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $992.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a market cap of $51.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.27, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.12.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $10.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.95 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.64 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 49.40% and a net margin of 9.75%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.87 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is presently 25.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 12,163 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $972.57, for a total value of $11,829,368.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,035,434.45. This represents a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 195 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,023.93, for a total transaction of $199,666.35. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 3,174 shares in the company, valued at $3,249,953.82. This trade represents a 5.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,881 shares of company stock worth $26,157,155 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

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.