PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators Buys Shares of 1,400 W.W. Grainger, Inc. $GWW

PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators bought a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,400 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,413,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GWW. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 211.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 28 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 314.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 29 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. State of Wyoming lifted its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger by 650.0% during the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 45 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of W.W. Grainger during the 4th quarter valued at $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on GWW shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded W.W. Grainger from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Stephens increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,300.00 to $1,355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,170.00 to $1,337.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,047.00 to $1,171.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,190.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, W.W. Grainger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,212.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Laurie R. Thomson sold 313 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,231.69, for a total transaction of $385,518.97. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $491,444.31. This trade represents a 43.96% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Jonny M. Leroy sold 854 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,231.06, for a total value of $1,051,325.24. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 1,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,913,067.24. This represents a 35.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 6,451 shares of company stock valued at $7,380,743 over the last quarter. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

Shares of GWW stock opened at $1,300.83 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.69 and a quick ratio of 1.60. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1,188.64 and a 200 day moving average of $1,101.24. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 1 year low of $906.52 and a 1 year high of $1,306.51.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The industrial products company reported $11.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.21 by $1.44. The company had revenue of $4.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.58 billion. W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 47.87% and a net margin of 9.70%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $9.86 EPS. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 44.250-46.250 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 45.34 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 11th were given a dividend of $2.49 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $9.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.26. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is 26.79%.

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.