Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Invests $2.50 Million in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired 29,875 shares of Graco Inc. for approximately $2.495 million during the first quarter.
• Graco reported a quarterly EPS of $0.75, missing analyst estimates, and had revenue of $571.81 million, below expectations of $590.57 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, reflecting an annualized rate of $1.10 with a yield of 1.3%.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 29,875 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $2,495,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GGG. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 109,459 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $9,227,000 after purchasing an additional 4,948 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,387 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 322,923 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $27,164,000 after purchasing an additional 14,690 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $94.50.

Graco Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE GGG traded down $0.85 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 184,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 810,437. The business's 50 day moving average is $85.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.21. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86. The firm has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.03.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $590.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

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.