W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Price Target Raised to $1,125.00 at Sanford C. Bernstein

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) had its target price lifted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $1,052.00 to $1,125.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has a market perform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,044.00 to $1,047.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,118.14.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of GWW stock opened at $1,172.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $1,115.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,043.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $55.47 billion, a PE ratio of 33.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.09. W.W. Grainger has a 12-month low of $906.52 and a 12-month high of $1,218.63.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.46 by ($0.01). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 47.46% and a net margin of 9.51%.The business had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $9.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.250-44.750 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 43.61 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $2.26 dividend. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.54%.

Insider Transactions at W.W. Grainger

In related news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 2,339 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,064.73, for a total value of $2,490,403.47. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,897,511.55. This trade represents a 18.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 1.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,462,252,000 after acquiring an additional 104,607 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,019,452 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,037,728,000 after acquiring an additional 23,399 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,217,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,230,214,000 after acquiring an additional 10,533 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 1,462.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,071,854 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,081,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in W.W. Grainger by 61.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,027,286 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,036,584,000 after acquiring an additional 389,589 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

W.W. Grainger, Inc (NYSE: GWW) is an industrial supply distributor founded in 1927 and headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company supplies maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services to businesses, institutions and government customers. Over its long history Grainger has developed a broad product assortment and a national distribution network that supports operations across a range of end markets, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation and public sector organizations.

Grainger’s product portfolio spans core categories such as electrical and lighting, safety and personal protective equipment, material handling, motors and power transmission, plumbing and HVAC, fasteners and adhesives, hand and power tools, and janitorial and facility supplies.