Toroso Investments LLC Raises Position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Toroso Investments LLC raised its position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW – Get Rating) by 13.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the period. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $2,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,558,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,719,249,000 after buying an additional 116,455 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,192,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,072,784,000 after purchasing an additional 80,677 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.9% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 691,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $314,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,189 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 5.1% in the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 499,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $227,162,000 after purchasing an additional 24,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 476,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $216,717,000 after purchasing an additional 7,994 shares during the last quarter. 71.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on GWW shares. UBS Group raised their target price on W.W. Grainger from $695.00 to $800.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $660.00 to $785.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $502.00 to $679.00 in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $670.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $650.00 to $730.00 in a report on Friday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $688.88.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total transaction of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total value of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 3,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 49,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $694.36, for a total transaction of $34,107,657.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 80,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,715,446.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,434 shares of company stock valued at $38,315,317 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 10.00% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

GWW stock opened at $681.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $632.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $583.05. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 52-week low of $440.48 and a 52-week high of $709.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.66, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.36 and a current ratio of 2.48.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $7.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.97 by $0.17. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 60.13%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 33.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $1.72 per share. This represents a $6.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 22.88%.

W.W. Grainger Profile

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W.W. Grainger, Inc operates as a supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products (MRO), with operations also in Europe, Asia and Latin America. It operates through two segments: United States and Canada. The United States segment offers a selection of MRO products and services through its eCommerce platforms, catalogs, branches and sales and service representatives.