Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. boosted its position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 16.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,492 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $2,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 6.9% in the second quarter. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 127.5% in the second quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 34,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,272,000 after buying an additional 19,472 shares during the period. Bedrijfstakpensioenfonds Voor DE Media PNO purchased a new position in W.W. Grainger during the second quarter worth approximately $1,131,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 327.9% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 16,133 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,912,000 after buying an additional 12,363 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 40.6% in the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 1,694 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.59% of the company’s stock.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) traded down 1.95% during trading on Friday, reaching $161.39. 1,000,302 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.29 and a 12 month high of $262.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $169.86 and its 200 day moving average is $202.29. The company has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60 and a beta of 0.74.
W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.63 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.03%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.89 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post $10.38 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $1.28 per share. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is 59.12%.
GWW has been the subject of a number of research reports. Zacks Investment Research downgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. William Blair cut W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, April 24th. TheStreet cut W.W. Grainger from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on W.W. Grainger from $166.00 to $156.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG cut W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $246.00 to $145.00 in a report on Thursday, May 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $180.33.
About W.W. Grainger
W.W. Grainger, Inc (Grainger) is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies and other related products and services. The Company offers its products and services to businesses and institutions in the United States and Canada, with presence also in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
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