NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Purchases New Stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 656 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 136.4% during the 2nd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 26 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 15 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the third quarter worth $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 211.1% in the third quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 28 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 314.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GWW. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Oppenheimer boosted 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,044.00 to $1,047.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,080.38.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,064.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 2.83 and a quick ratio of 1.59. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a one year low of $893.99 and a one year high of $1,218.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $1,106.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,023.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.07, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.46 by ($0.01). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 47.46% and a net margin of 9.51%.The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $9.71 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.250-44.750 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $2.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $9.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is 25.54%.

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.