370 Shares in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) Purchased by Praetorian Wealth Management Inc.

Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW – Get Rating) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 370 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in W.W. Grainger by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,558,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,719,249,000 after purchasing an additional 116,455 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in W.W. Grainger by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,192,981 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,072,784,000 after purchasing an additional 80,677 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in W.W. Grainger by 0.9% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 691,001 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $314,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,189 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in W.W. Grainger by 5.1% during the second quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 499,883 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $227,162,000 after purchasing an additional 24,040 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of W.W. Grainger by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 476,896 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $216,717,000 after acquiring an additional 7,994 shares during the period. 71.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at W.W. Grainger

In other news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total transaction of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Kathleen S. Carroll sold 1,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $671.56, for a total value of $1,134,936.40. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,199,359. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 4,623 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $664.66, for a total transaction of $3,072,723.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 7,605 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,054,739.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 55,434 shares of company stock worth $38,315,317. 10.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GWW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of W.W. Grainger from an “underperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $502.00 to $679.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of W.W. Grainger in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $660.00 to $785.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $695.00 to $800.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $490.00 to $537.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $688.88.

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

Shares of GWW opened at $663.50 on Friday. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $440.48 and a fifty-two week high of $709.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $637.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $584.41. The company has a market cap of $33.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 2nd. The industrial products company reported $7.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.97 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.81 billion. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.14% and a return on equity of 60.13%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.44 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 33.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 13th were given a dividend of $1.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $6.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.88%.

About W.W. Grainger

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W.W. Grainger, Inc is a supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating products, with operations in North America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. It operates through the following segments: High-Touch Solutions N.A., Endless Assortment, and Other. The High-Touch Solutions N.A. segment is involved in value-added MRO solutions that are rooted in deep product knowledge and customer expertise.