Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Buys 755 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC grew its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 12.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,927 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the period. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $7,047,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GWW. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 8.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,429,000 after acquiring an additional 4,121 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 29.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,331,000 after buying an additional 4,741 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.5% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,240 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 5.1% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 11,305 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,821,000 after buying an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 15.1% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 6,219 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,303,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a report on Friday, June 14th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,000.00 to $975.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $959.44.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

NYSE GWW traded down $4.99 on Thursday, hitting $903.80. 163,576 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 241,688. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.33. The business’s fifty day moving average is $929.88 and its 200 day moving average is $924.47. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 52 week low of $674.41 and a 52 week high of $1,034.18. The company has a market capitalization of $44.35 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.16.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 54.31%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.91%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Matt Fortin sold 511 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $915.20, for a total value of $467,667.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,848 shares in the company, valued at $1,691,289.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

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.