W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on W.W. Grainger, with seven hold, two buy and one sell rating among 10 firms. The average 12-month price target is $1,286.63, below the reported opening price of $1,311.08.
• Grainger exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $12.01 in EPS versus the $11.30 consensus and $5.02 billion in revenue, up 10.3% year over year. The company issued fiscal 2026 EPS guidance of $45.50-$47.25.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.49 per share, equivalent to $9.96 annually and a 0.8% yield. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.7% of the stock.

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $1,286.6250.

Several research firms recently commented on GWW. Oppenheimer raised their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,350.00 to $1,375.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,166.00 to $1,185.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,300.00 to $1,400.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of W.W. Grainger from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Stephens cut shares of W.W. Grainger from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $1,355.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 2.0%

W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,311.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $61.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.03. W.W. Grainger has a 12 month low of $906.52 and a 12 month high of $1,419.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $1,339.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,239.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $12.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $11.30 by $0.71. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 48.73%. The firm had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $9.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 45.500-47.250 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger will post 46.17 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $2.49 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $9.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger's dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.W. Grainger

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GWW. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 38.3% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 46,533 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $63,305,000 after purchasing an additional 12,881 shares during the period. HORAN Wealth LLC bought a new position in W.W. Grainger during the 2nd quarter worth about $875,000. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 24.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 363,308 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $494,244,000 after buying an additional 70,451 shares in the last quarter. Groupe la Francaise raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.0% in the second quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 3,509 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,774,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter valued at $10,638,000. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About W.W. Grainger

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source