Meeder Asset Management Inc. Acquires 34,545 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 204.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,444 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 34,545 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 220.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 90.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Graco Stock Up 0.2 %

GGG stock opened at $82.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.25. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

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

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.