CHICAGO — W.W. Grainger, Inc. announced that its board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $1.44 per share, an increase of 6 percent from the dividend paid in March 2019. The dividend is payable on June 1, 2019, to shareholders of record on May 13, 2019. Grainger has delivered 48 consecutive years of increased dividends.
In addition, the board authorized the repurchase of up to 5 million shares of the company’s outstanding common stock, replacing the company’s existing repurchase program. The new repurchase program has no time limit. Since 2014, Grainger has reduced the number of shares outstanding by more than 15 percent and has returned approximately $5.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends. As of March 31, 2019, the company had approximately 55 million shares of common stock outstanding.
“We are committed to returning value to shareholders through consistent increases in the dividend and share repurchases while continuing to invest in the business and maintaining a healthy balance sheet,” said Grainger Chairman and CEO, DG Macpherson.
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