1,891 Shares in W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW Acquired by PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab

Key Points

• PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new Q4 stake of 1,891 shares in W.W. Grainger worth about $1.93 million.
• Institutional ownership sits at 80.70% with major investors (Vanguard, State Street, MFS) adjusting positions, and analysts have raised targets yet the consensus rating remains Hold with a $1,118.14 price target.
• Grainger boosted its quarterly dividend to $2.49 (annualized $9.96, ~0.9% yield), reported Q4 EPS of $9.45 (missing estimates by $0.01) and revenue up 4.5% YoY, trading at about $54.1 billion market cap.

PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,891 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $1,931,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,880 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,462,252,000 after purchasing an additional 104,607 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in W.W. Grainger by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,996,053 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,902,159,000 after buying an additional 13,779 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger in the third quarter valued at about $721,202,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in W.W. Grainger by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 659,158 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $628,151,000 after acquiring an additional 3,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in W.W. Grainger by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 477,693 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $482,016,000 after acquiring an additional 34,307 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,044.00 to $1,047.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,052.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $1,118.14.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

NYSE:GWW opened at $1,143.01 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.10 billion, a PE ratio of 32.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,118.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,053.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 2.83. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $906.52 and a fifty-two week high of $1,218.63.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $9.46 by ($0.01). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 47.46% and a net margin of 9.51%.The firm had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.71 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 43.61 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th will be paid a dividend of $2.49 per share. This is a boost from W.W. Grainger's previous quarterly dividend of $2.26. This represents a $9.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 11th. W.W. Grainger's payout ratio is 28.14%.

Insider Transactions at W.W. Grainger

In related news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 2,339 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,064.73, for a total value of $2,490,403.47. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 10,235 shares in the company, valued at $10,897,511.55. The trade was a 18.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

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.

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