Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Sells 28 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI trimmed its holdings in shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 10.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 237 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GWW. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the fourth quarter worth about $392,470,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in W.W. Grainger by 17.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,396,928 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $966,451,000 after buying an additional 204,507 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in W.W. Grainger by 8.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 625,013 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $432,411,000 after buying an additional 47,731 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in W.W. Grainger by 82,775.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 43,095 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $35,712,000 after buying an additional 43,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in W.W. Grainger by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 240,856 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $199,595,000 after buying an additional 42,395 shares in the last quarter. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $1,075.00 to $1,125.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price target for the company from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $775.00 to $1,000.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W.W. Grainger from $809.00 to $907.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:GWW traded down $18.58 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $929.26. 357,385 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 211,078. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $979.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $876.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $641.95 and a fifty-two week high of $1,034.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The industrial products company reported $9.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.57 by $0.05. W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 10.94% and a return on equity of 54.31%. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $9.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 39.3 earnings per share for the current year.

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $2.05 per share. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $950.22, for a total value of $2,966,586.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,664,629.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,909 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,756,231.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

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.