Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Buys 8,899 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,466 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,899 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $6,887,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 149.5% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,992 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 2,991 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Graco by 13.8% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,117 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $5,855,000 after buying an additional 8,490 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco in the first quarter valued at about $2,335,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 150.6% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 4,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Novem Group boosted its stake in Graco by 34.5% in the first quarter. Novem Group now owns 11,900 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 3,052 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of GGG stock traded up $2.6310 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $87.3110. 556,123 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,291. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $85.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.18. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.06 and a 1-year high of $92.86. The company has a market cap of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.04.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). Graco had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 22.26%.The company had revenue of $571.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 earnings per share. Graco's revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Graco in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $94.50.

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.