Bridges Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 138,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,859 shares during the quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Graco worth $11,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,444,864,000 after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $356,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,093 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,390,940 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $199,667,000 after purchasing an additional 62,761 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $177,434,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,929,952 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $162,676,000 after purchasing an additional 518,462 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock traded down $1.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.64. 628,133 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 799,823. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $85.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.93. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.06.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a net margin of 22.70% and a return on equity of 19.42%. The business had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $526.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,588 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.23, for a total transaction of $309,393.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,520 shares in the company, valued at $2,373,049.60. The trade was a 11.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.