DNB Asset Management AS Boosts Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

DNB Asset Management AS grew its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the quarter. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,494,846,000 after purchasing an additional 144,146 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $270,579,000 after purchasing an additional 498,724 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Graco by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $156,353,000 after buying an additional 71,788 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,941,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Graco by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Trading Up 1.7 %

GGG stock opened at $80.36 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.32. The company has a market capitalization of $13.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 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 previous year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other news, Director J Kevin Gilligan 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.