Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 13,174 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Confluence Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 1.9%, selling 13,174 shares and owning approximately 670,046 shares valued at $57.6 million as of the latest report.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Graco, with GAMMA Investing LLC boosting its stake by over 9,400% in the last quarter.
• Graco's recent earnings report indicated a quarterly EPS of $0.75, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78, and the company reported revenue of $571.81 million, below expectations.

Confluence Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 1.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 670,046 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 13,174 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.40% of Graco worth $57,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GGG. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 9,453.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 400,180 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $33,419,000 after purchasing an additional 395,991 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 572.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $36,549,000 after buying an additional 372,543 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter worth $26,540,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth $13,853,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 225.4% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $18,670,000 after buying an additional 154,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG opened at $84.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.99 billion, a PE ratio of 29.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.03. The business's fifty day moving average is $85.61 and its 200 day moving average is $84.15. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86.

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

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.

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