Bleakley Financial Group LLC Cuts Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Bleakley Financial Group LLC decreased its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,949 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 206 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,113,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Millennium Management LLC raised its position in Graco by 572.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,549,000 after acquiring an additional 372,543 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 9.1% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $336,261,000 after acquiring an additional 326,877 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Graco in the first quarter worth $26,540,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Graco by 55.7% in the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 693,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,587,000 after acquiring an additional 248,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Graco by 225.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,670,000 after buying an additional 154,853 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Up 0.9%

GGG opened at $82.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.07. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.23.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $543.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.07 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.72% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings cut Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price target on Graco in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

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.