Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Decreases Holdings in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board reduced its position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 21.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 934 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 255 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $970,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optas LLC increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.8% during the second quarter. Optas LLC now owns 1,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. CX Institutional increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.9% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,191 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,237,000 after acquiring an additional 11 shares during the period. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 4.4% during the second quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 2.7% during the second quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 463 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. Finally, Garner Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of W.W. Grainger by 0.7% during the second quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 1,635 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 12 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GWW. StockNews.com upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $975.00 to $1,230.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of W.W. Grainger from $990.00 to $1,215.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of W.W. Grainger from $900.00 to $1,100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $1,109.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 125 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,206.03, for a total value of $150,753.75. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 675 shares in the company, valued at $814,070.25. This trade represents a 15.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 9,577 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,117.84, for a total transaction of $10,705,553.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,895,021.36. This trade represents a 68.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 50,900 shares of company stock valued at $52,640,733. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of W.W. Grainger stock opened at $1,178.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 2.59 and a quick ratio of 1.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $1,090.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $993.70. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1 year low of $772.13 and a 1 year high of $1,227.66. The stock has a market cap of $57.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.15.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.98 by ($0.11). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 51.78% and a net margin of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.43 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 38.92 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 11th will be issued a $2.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $8.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 22.23%.

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.