Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Sells 909 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 9.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,273 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 909 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $7,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 313 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 10 shares during the last quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 5.4% in the second quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 215 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.6% in the second quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,757 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,828,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 3,283 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,415,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.8% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,644,000 after buying an additional 12 shares during the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Donald G. Macpherson sold 12,163 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $972.57, for a total value of $11,829,368.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,035,434.45. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Krantz Nancy L. Berardinelli sold 195 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,023.93, for a total transaction of $199,666.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 3,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,249,953.82. This represents a 5.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 26,881 shares of company stock worth $26,157,155 over the last 90 days. 6.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,051.45 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $1,005.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $991.25. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12 month low of $893.99 and a 12 month high of $1,139.15. The company has a market cap of $50.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $10.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.95 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.64 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 49.40% and a net margin of 9.75%.The business’s revenue was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $9.87 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 39.000-39.750 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 EPS for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a $2.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $9.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 25.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GWW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,006.00 to $1,050.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,150.00 to $1,100.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays upped their target price on W.W. Grainger from $963.00 to $975.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on W.W. Grainger from $1,045.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $1,016.57.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

W.W. Grainger, Inc (NYSE: GWW) is an industrial supply distributor founded in 1927 and headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois. The company supplies maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products and services to businesses, institutions and government customers. Over its long history Grainger has developed a broad product assortment and a national distribution network that supports operations across a range of end markets, including manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, transportation and public sector organizations.

Grainger’s product portfolio spans core categories such as electrical and lighting, safety and personal protective equipment, material handling, motors and power transmission, plumbing and HVAC, fasteners and adhesives, hand and power tools, and janitorial and facility supplies.