Federated Hermes Inc. Sells 9,761 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 47.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,954 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,761 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $9,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in W.W. Grainger by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,396,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $966,451,000 after acquiring an additional 204,507 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 751,855 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $520,163,000 after purchasing an additional 13,063 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 8.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 625,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $432,411,000 after purchasing an additional 47,731 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.9% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 455,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $315,478,000 after purchasing an additional 8,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.5% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 260,210 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $180,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GWW shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. Loop Capital lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $925.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

Shares of GWW opened at $958.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $47.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.88, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $980.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $872.05. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1-year low of $641.95 and a 1-year high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $8.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.05 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.04 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 56.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.26 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $7.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total transaction of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total transaction of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the sale, the vice president now directly 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. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

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.