Gladius Capital Management LP Cuts Stock Holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Gladius Capital Management LP lowered its stake in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 32 shares during the quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the first quarter worth about $41,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 561 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $570,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $487,000. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger in the first quarter valued at $332,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its position in W.W. Grainger by 53.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 140 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $975.00 to $1,230.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on W.W. Grainger in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. StockNews.com upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Oppenheimer lowered W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Baird R W raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $1,086.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,206.03, for a total transaction of $150,753.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $814,070.25. This represents a 15.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 9,577 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,117.84, for a total value of $10,705,553.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,895,021.36. The trade was a 68.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,900 shares of company stock worth $52,640,733 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GWW opened at $1,178.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average of $1,078.55 and a 200 day moving average of $988.48. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1-year low of $772.13 and a 1-year high of $1,227.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.68.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.40 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.43 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.92 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.23%.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

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.