With 74% ownership of the shares, W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) is heavily dominated by institutional owners
Key Insights
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Significantly high institutional ownership implies W.W. Grainger's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions
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The top 13 shareholders own 50% of the company
Every investor in W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. With 74% stake, institutions possess the maximum shares in the company. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).
Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. Hence, having a considerable amount of institutional money invested in a company is often regarded as a desirable trait.
In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of W.W. Grainger.
See our latest analysis for W.W. Grainger
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About W.W. Grainger?
Many institutions measure their performance against an index that approximates the local market. So they usually pay more attention to companies that are included in major indices.
W.W. Grainger already has institutions on the share registry. Indeed, they own a respectable stake in the company. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. It's therefore worth looking at W.W. Grainger's earnings history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.
Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don't have many shares in W.W. Grainger. Susan Williams is currently the company's largest shareholder with 11% of shares outstanding. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the second largest shareholder owning 11% of common stock, and BlackRock, Inc. holds about 8.1% of the company stock.
A closer look at our ownership figures suggests that the top 13 shareholders have a combined ownership of 50% implying that no single shareholder has a majority.
Researching institutional ownership is a good way to gauge and filter a stock's expected performance. The same can be achieved by studying analyst sentiments. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future.