Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB cut its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,957 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,589 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $17,738,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cyrus J. Lawrence LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GWW. Wolfe Research lowered shares of 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. upped their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,097.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, William Blair raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,123.13.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GWW opened at $1,077.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $51.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,038.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $1,054.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $888.75 and a 12 month high of $1,227.66.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $9.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.51 by $0.35. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 52.43%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.62 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger’s revenue was up 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 12th were paid a $2.26 dividend. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.05. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 12th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,075.20, for a total value of $301,056.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,369 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,622,348.80. This represents a 7.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,042.86, for a total transaction of $793,616.46. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 578 shares in the company, valued at approximately $602,773.08. This trade represents a 56.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 2,205 shares of company stock valued at $2,255,320 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

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.