Avanza Fonder AB Invests $4.96 Million in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,701 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,955,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 92,754.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 87,283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $906,700,000 after purchasing an additional 87,189 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the third quarter worth approximately $55,815,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in W.W. Grainger by 1,653.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 56,978 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $60,058,000 after purchasing an additional 53,729 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 43.9% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 154,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $139,237,000 after purchasing an additional 47,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,997,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,074,702,000 after purchasing an additional 45,369 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GWW shares. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Baird R W upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a report on Monday, October 7th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $925.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $990.00 to $1,215.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,140.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 9,577 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,117.84, for a total transaction of $10,705,553.68. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,379 shares of the company’s stock, 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 accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 704 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,105.59, for a total transaction of $778,335.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 9,509 shares in the company, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,406 shares of company stock worth $11,634,643. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of GWW stock opened at $1,096.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,135.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,049.25. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $855.01 and a fifty-two week high of $1,227.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.41 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.98 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.40 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.43 EPS. Equities analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.97 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Monday, November 11th were issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.23%.

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.