W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Shares Sold by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 12.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 455 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 64 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $449,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $54,000. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GWW has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wolfe Research downgraded W.W. Grainger from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $966.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,097.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,123.13.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE GWW opened at $1,063.31 on Friday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a one year low of $888.75 and a one year high of $1,227.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.08 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1,044.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,052.90.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $9.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.51 by $0.35. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 52.43% and a net margin of 11.12%. The firm had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.62 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th were given a dividend of $2.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 280 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,075.20, for a total transaction of $301,056.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,369 shares in the company, valued at $3,622,348.80. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 761 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,042.86, for a total value of $793,616.46. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 578 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $602,773.08. This represents a 56.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,205 shares of company stock worth $2,255,320. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.