24,341 Shares in Graco Inc. $GGG Purchased by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio bought a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 24,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,093,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in shares of Graco by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 21,223 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 739.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,022 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 1,781 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $472,000. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund raised its holdings in Graco by 19.8% during the second quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 92,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,972,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Graco by 98.9% during the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 49,105 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,222,000 after purchasing an additional 24,420 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price objective on Graco in a report on Friday, October 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

Graco Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE GGG opened at $81.77 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86. The stock has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.71 and a 200-day moving average of $84.43.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 37.54%.

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.