Granite Investment Partners LLC Sells 1,056 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

Granite Investment Partners LLC lessened its position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 26.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,056 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $2,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quaker Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 196.0% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 24 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. bought a new position in W.W. Grainger during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in W.W. Grainger during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Asset Dedication LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 136.4% during the second quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 26 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam boosted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 3,900.0% in the second quarter. Tobam now owns 40 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $975.00 target price on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $963.00 to $975.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,150.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,060.13.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,118.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market cap of $53.19 billion, a PE ratio of 31.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1,074.51 and a 200-day moving average of $1,007.89. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1-year low of $893.99 and a 1-year high of $1,218.63.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 47.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.71 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.250-44.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of $2.26 per share. This represents a $9.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.54%.

Insider Activity

In other W.W. Grainger news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 12,163 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 103,885 shares in the company, valued at $101,035,434.45. The trade was a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,023.93, for a total value of $199,666.35. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,249,953.82. The trade was a 5.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 26,881 shares of company stock worth $26,157,155 over the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.