Commerce Bank Acquires 629 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Commerce Bank raised its holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,482 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $5,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 140.0% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 72 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,756,231.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on GWW shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Stephens upgraded W.W. Grainger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $938.89.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of GWW stock opened at $966.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $47.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $970.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $906.26. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1 year low of $641.95 and a 1 year high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.26 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 54.31% and a net margin of 10.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.61 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is currently 22.64%.

About W.W. Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, distributes maintenance, repair, and operating products and services primarily in North America, Japan, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates through two segments, High-Touch Solutions N.A. and Endless Assortment. The company provides safety, security, material handling and storage equipment, pumps and plumbing equipment, cleaning and maintenance, and metalworking and hand tools.