Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama decreased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 369,575 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,170 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Graco were worth $29,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,353,000 after purchasing an additional 71,788 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $152,941,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Graco by 14.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.80.

Graco Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG traded up $0.63 on Friday, hitting $82.28. The company had a trading volume of 672,757 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,798. The company has a market cap of $13.92 billion, a PE ratio of 28.37, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.78 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $80.74 and a 200 day moving average of $84.88.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Graco Profile

Graco Inc designs, manufactures, and markets systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials worldwide. The Contractor segment offers sprayers to apply paint to walls and other structures; two-component proportioning systems that are used to spray polyurethane foam and polyurea coatings; and viscous coatings to roofs, as well as markings on roads, parking lots, athletic fields, and floors.