Tradewinds Capital Management LLC Purchases 500 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Tradewinds Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 1,666.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 530 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Tradewinds Capital Management LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GWW. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 10.0% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 121 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 436 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $361,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 347 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 339 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at W.W. Grainger

In related news, SVP Matt Fortin sold 511 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $915.20, for a total value of $467,667.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 1,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,691,289.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GWW. Loop Capital cut their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,000.00 to $975.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird lowered W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $1,000.00 to $975.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. UBS Group increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Stephens upgraded W.W. Grainger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $1,000.00 to $1,250.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $959.44.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 0.2 %

W.W. Grainger stock traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $916.54. The stock had a trading volume of 60,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 241,948. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $674.41 and a 12 month high of $1,034.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.97 billion, a PE ratio of 25.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $926.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $927.54.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.57 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.26 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 54.31% and a net margin of 10.94%. W.W. Grainger’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $9.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.22 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.64%.

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.