Morgan Stanley Cuts W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Price Target to $1,160.00

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW - Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $1,215.00 to $1,160.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the industrial products company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective indicates a potential upside of 9.75% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GWW. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a "peer perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $966.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,097.00 to $1,144.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $1,116.25.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

GWW stock traded up $9.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1,057.00. The stock had a trading volume of 104,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,944. The company has a current ratio of 2.74, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. W.W. Grainger has a 52 week low of $893.99 and a 52 week high of $1,227.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,062.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,037.94.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $9.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.51 by $0.35. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 11.08% and a return on equity of 51.28%. The company had revenue of $4.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.31 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $9.62 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger will post 40.3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 280 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,075.20, for a total transaction of $301,056.00. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,369 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,622,348.80. The trade was a 7.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 761 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 578 shares in the company, valued at $602,773.08. This represents a 56.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.W. Grainger

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 100,843.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 692,469 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $684,042,000 after purchasing an additional 691,783 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $535,910,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the first quarter valued at about $285,574,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter valued at about $175,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 514,326 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $542,126,000 after buying an additional 115,290 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.