Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 20 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC cut its holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,352 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 20 shares during the period. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $1,405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in W.W. Grainger by 250.0% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 28 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 111.1% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 38 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 38.9% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 50 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 14 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in W.W. Grainger in the third quarter valued at about $75,000. 80.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird raised W.W. Grainger from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $975.00 to $1,230.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Baird R W raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,140.56.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,120.63 on Friday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1-year low of $868.53 and a 1-year high of $1,227.66. The company has a current ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,126.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,056.43.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.43 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 11th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.73%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.23%.

Insider Activity

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 9,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,117.84, for a total transaction of $10,705,553.68. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,379 shares in the company, valued at $4,895,021.36. This trade represents a 68.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 704 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,105.59, for a total value of $778,335.36. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 9,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,513,055.31. This trade represents a 6.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,406 shares of company stock worth $11,634,643. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

W.W. Grainger Company 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.