W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $38.00-40.50 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $39.46. The company issued revenue guidance of $17.2-17.7 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $17.48 billion. W.W. Grainger also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 38.000-40.500 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on W.W. Grainger from $800.00 to $925.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. Loop Capital cut W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating and lifted their target price for the company from $925.00 to $1,000.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered W.W. Grainger from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W.W. Grainger currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $913.89.

W.W. Grainger Stock Performance

GWW stock opened at $929.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $979.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $875.13. The company has a current ratio of 2.19, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $45.65 billion, a PE ratio of 25.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.14. W.W. Grainger has a 1-year low of $641.95 and a 1-year high of $1,034.18.

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

W.W. Grainger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This is a positive change from W.W. Grainger’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $8.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is currently 20.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W.W. Grainger news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total transaction of $3,694,339.44. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,756,231.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,813 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $968.88, for a total value of $3,694,339.44. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,909 shares in the company, valued at $4,756,231.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Paige K. Robbins sold 3,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,664,629.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.