W.W. Grainger (GWW) Set to Announce Earnings on Thursday

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) will be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect W.W. Grainger to post earnings of $9.57 per share for the quarter. W.W. Grainger has set its FY24 guidance at $38.00-40.50 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance at 38.000-40.500 EPS.Persons interested in listening to the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $8.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.05 by $0.28. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 11.10% and a return on equity of 56.54%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect W.W. Grainger to post $39 EPS for the current fiscal year and $43 EPS for the next fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

W.W. Grainger stock opened at $955.79 on Wednesday. W.W. Grainger has a 52 week low of $641.95 and a 52 week high of $1,034.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 2.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $979.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $871.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.14.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $1.86 dividend. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 20.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,756,231.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value of $2,966,586.84. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,664,629.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GWW shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $775.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $913.89.

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.