12,771 Shares in W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW Purchased by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 12,771 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,910,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in W.W. Grainger in the second quarter valued at approximately $6,303,024,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in W.W. Grainger in the second quarter worth approximately $621,127,000. Amundi increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 24.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 363,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $494,244,000 after acquiring an additional 70,451 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 409,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $446,210,000 after acquiring an additional 9,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the second quarter worth $407,051,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GWW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,185.00 to $1,172.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 25th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,365.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Stephens lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $1,355.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,266.08.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of GWW stock opened at $1,396.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $65.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $1,303.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $1,239.03. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a one year low of $906.52 and a one year high of $1,419.91.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $12.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $11.30 by $0.71. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 48.73%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $9.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 46.31 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.49 per share. This represents a $9.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 9th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

About W.W. Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies for businesses, government agencies and other organizations. Its product offerings include safety equipment, tools, fasteners, electrical and plumbing supplies, material-handling equipment, cleaning and janitorial products, HVAC supplies, and facility-maintenance products.

The company also provides services designed to help customers manage procurement and workplace operations, including product selection support, inventory-management programs, digital purchasing tools, and technical assistance.