Baird Financial Group Inc. Decreases Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 15.6%, selling 97,092 shares and ending with a total of 527,209 shares valued at approximately $44 million.
• Graco reported a quarterly EPS of $0.75, falling short of analysts' expectations, with revenue of $571.81 million, which is 3.4% higher year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.10 and a yield of 1.3%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 15.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 527,209 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 97,092 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.32% of Graco worth $44,027,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 128.9% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 689 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 74.8% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 699 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 92.6% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 932 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.50.

Graco Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:GGG traded down $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $84.42. The company had a trading volume of 419,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 637,418. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $85.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.21. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.03.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Graco had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 22.26%.The company had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $590.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors 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 yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

Graco 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.