W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Stephens lowered W.W. Grainger from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $1,355.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wolfe Research began coverage on W.W. Grainger in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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 note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,460.00 to $1,428.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,285.00.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 1.0%

GWW stock opened at $1,255.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.01, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.81. W.W. Grainger has a one year low of $906.52 and a one year high of $1,419.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $1,309.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,256.81.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued 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 return on equity of 48.73% and a net margin of 9.92%.The company had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $9.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter 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 46.24 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $2.49 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 payout ratio is presently 25.40%.

Institutional Trading of W.W. Grainger

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,303,024,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the second quarter valued at $621,127,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $518,958,000. Amundi boosted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 24.1% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 363,308 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $494,244,000 after acquiring an additional 70,451 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 2.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 409,142 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $446,210,000 after purchasing an additional 9,743 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 is a distributor of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and related services. The company serves businesses, government organizations and other institutions that need supplies to maintain facilities, equipment and operations.

Its product offerings include tools, safety equipment, cleaning and maintenance supplies, material-handling products, electrical and plumbing components, lighting, heating and cooling equipment, and other industrial and facility-management products.