Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 14,903 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 1.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,069,869 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,903 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.64% of Graco worth $89,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew 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 worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 13.8% during the 1st 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 during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter worth $2,335,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 150.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 4,806 shares during the period. Finally, Novem Group increased 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 acquiring an additional 3,052 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on GGG. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.50.

Graco Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE:GGG traded down $0.81 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $84.48. The company had a trading volume of 498,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 802,690. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.06 and a twelve month high of $92.86. The firm has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.04. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $85.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.12.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

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