Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 1,000 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 46,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,095,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in Graco during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Tobam raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 90.2% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter worth approximately $59,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $82.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.80 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $82.65.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Graco Company 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.