W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $2.05

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of 2.05 per share by the industrial products company on Saturday, June 1st. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a boost from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86.

W.W. Grainger has raised its dividend by an average of 7.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 53 consecutive years. W.W. Grainger has a dividend payout ratio of 17.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect W.W. Grainger to earn $43.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $7.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.2%.

W.W. Grainger Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock traded down $32.99 during trading on Thursday, hitting $925.33. 80,209 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 229,717. The stock has a market cap of $45.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $980.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $872.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.88. W.W. Grainger has a twelve month low of $641.95 and a twelve month high of $1,034.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $8.33 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger will post 39.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GWW. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 16th. Loop Capital cut W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Stephens raised their target price on W.W. Grainger from $775.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on W.W. Grainger from $740.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $913.89.

Insider Activity

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

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.