Harfst & Associates Inc. Buys 5,749 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Harfst & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 34.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,640 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,749 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 134.4% in the second 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. Flossbach Von Storch AG acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter worth approximately $111,428,000. M&G Plc bought a new position in Graco in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,069,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,502,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Graco by 54.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GGG. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $85.92. 450,247 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,922. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.02. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The firm had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

About Graco

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.