Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Sells 249 Shares of W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS decreased its position in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 249 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in W.W. Grainger were worth $9,932,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GWW. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $267,529,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the fourth quarter valued at about $175,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 694.1% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 76,674 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $80,818,000 after acquiring an additional 67,018 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 459,536 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $491,170,000 after acquiring an additional 58,978 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in W.W. Grainger in the third quarter valued at about $55,815,000. Institutional investors own 80.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,125.00 to $1,100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,113.00 to $1,112.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair raised W.W. Grainger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded W.W. Grainger from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $1,151.50.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

NYSE:GWW opened at $971.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. W.W. Grainger, Inc. has a 12-month low of $874.98 and a 12-month high of $1,227.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $1,038.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $1,075.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.18.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $9.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.75 by ($0.04). W.W. Grainger had a return on equity of 52.43% and a net margin of 11.12%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.33 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that W.W. Grainger, Inc. will post 40.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.W. Grainger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $2.05 per share. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. W.W. Grainger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.18%.

W.W. Grainger 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.