Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 93 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,655 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $1,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GWW. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 19.1% during the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,891 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.9% during the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 14 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 8.8% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 51,188 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,429,000 after purchasing an additional 4,121 shares during the period. Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.4% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 16,037 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,095,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 29.7% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 20,715 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,741 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GWW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Baird R W lowered shares of W.W. Grainger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Stephens raised shares of W.W. Grainger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $959.44.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of GWW stock traded up $1.29 during trading on Monday, reaching $916.35. 2,930 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 240,101. The company has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $932.41 and its 200 day moving average is $923.08. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1 year low of $674.41 and a 1 year high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.57 by $0.05. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 54.31%. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $9.61 EPS. W.W. Grainger’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.22 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.64%.

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.