Zacks Research Lowers Earnings Estimates for W.W. Grainger

15 Apr 2026, 05:44 by Danessa Lincoln · The Markets Daily

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW – Free Report) – Research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q1 2028 earnings per share estimates for W.W. Grainger in a report released on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the industrial products company will post earnings of $12.43 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $12.52. The consensus estimate for W.W. Grainger’s current full-year earnings is $40.30 per share.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on GWW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on W.W. Grainger from $1,250.00 to $1,300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings raised W.W. Grainger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,100.00 to $1,190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on W.W. Grainger from $1,044.00 to $1,047.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,096.71.

View Our Latest Stock Report on GWW

W.W. Grainger Price Performance

NYSE:GWW opened at $1,156.07 on Monday. W.W. Grainger has a 52 week low of $906.52 and a 52 week high of $1,218.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $54.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1,119.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,036.53.

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The industrial products company reported $9.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.46 by ($0.01). W.W. Grainger had a net margin of 9.51% and a return on equity of 47.46%. The business had revenue of $4.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.71 EPS. W.W. Grainger’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. W.W. Grainger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 42.250-44.750 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GWW. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $338,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,851 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,816,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 169.6% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,826 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,980,000 after purchasing an additional 2,407 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL purchased a new stake in W.W. Grainger during the 2nd quarter worth about $208,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in W.W. Grainger by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 41,388 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,051,000 after purchasing an additional 10,784 shares during the period. 80.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at W.W. Grainger

In other news, CFO Deidra C. Merriwether sold 1,488 shares of W.W. Grainger stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,114.28, for a total value of $1,658,048.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,745,625.48. The trade was a 12.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 6.30% of the company’s stock.

W.W. Grainger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a $2.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $9.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. W.W. Grainger’s payout ratio is presently 25.54%.

W.W. Grainger Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.