Wall Street Zen Upgrades W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) to Buy

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

GWW has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,350.00 to $1,375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,171.00 to $1,166.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,190.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,460.00 to $1,428.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,271.75.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,295.54 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $1,343.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,215.10. The company has a market cap of $61.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.03, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. W.W. Grainger has a 1 year low of $906.52 and a 1 year high of $1,419.91.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The industrial products company reported $12.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $9.97 EPS. The business’s quarterly 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, sell-side analysts expect that W.W. Grainger will post 46.14 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in W.W. Grainger by 169.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,407 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,051,000 after purchasing an additional 10,784 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.