W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW Shares Sold by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,204 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.05% of W.W. Grainger worth $26,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in W.W. Grainger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,731,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,462,252,000 after acquiring an additional 104,607 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,996,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,902,159,000 after buying an additional 13,779 shares during the period. Parnassus Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger in the third quarter valued at $721,202,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 659,158 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $628,151,000 after buying an additional 3,114 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 477,693 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $482,016,000 after buying an additional 34,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,052.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,044.00 to $1,047.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,118.14.

W.W. Grainger Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,164.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,115.93 and its 200-day moving average is $1,045.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.12 billion, a PE ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12-month low of $906.52 and a 12-month high of $1,218.63.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.46 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.39 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 47.46% and a net margin of 9.51%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.71 earnings per share. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.250-44.750 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 43.61 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $2.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 25.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 1,488 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,114.28, for a total transaction of $1,658,048.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,745,625.48. The trade was a 12.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 6.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

W.W. Grainger 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.