Hyman Charles D Makes New $224,000 Investment in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Hyman Charles D purchased a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GWW. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 26.9% in the 4th quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 66 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 927 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $641,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 314 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GWW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens raised W.W. Grainger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $938.89.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of GWW stock traded up $5.85 on Tuesday, hitting $945.89. 193,240 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 238,686. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $46.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.18. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a one year low of $641.95 and a one year high of $1,034.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $977.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $886.65.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $9.61 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total value of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,756,231.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

W.W. Grainger Profile

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.