Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Buys 85 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,663 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $20,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GWW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at $535,910,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the 4th quarter valued at about $267,529,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $175,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in W.W. Grainger by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 514,326 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $542,126,000 after purchasing an additional 115,290 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 694.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 76,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $80,818,000 after purchasing an additional 67,018 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. William Blair raised W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wolfe Research cut W.W. Grainger from a “peer perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $966.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,125.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,113.00 to $1,112.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,130.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 1,164 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $997.12, for a total transaction of $1,160,647.68. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,205,523.20. This trade represents a 10.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE GWW opened at $992.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $993.18 and a 200-day moving average of $1,072.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.20. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $874.98 and a 12 month high of $1,227.66.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.75 by ($0.04). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 52.43% and a net margin of 11.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $8.33 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 21.18%.

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.