Whittier Trust Co. Grows Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Whittier Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGGFree Report) by 2.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 192,104 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 4,432 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Graco were worth $16,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 9.1% during 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 buying an additional 326,877 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,390,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $199,667,000 after buying an additional 62,761 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 1.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $152,737,000 after buying an additional 28,795 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Graco by 7.2% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 1,797,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,194,000 after buying an additional 120,875 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 12.3% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,337,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $111,691,000 after buying an additional 146,424 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 analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Graco

Graco Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Graco stock opened at $82.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGGGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.57 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.77 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

About Graco

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Graco (NYSE:GGG)

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