Graco Inc. $GGG Shares Sold by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL has reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 1.3%, selling 9,825 shares, and now holds approximately 730,662 shares.
• Analysts have given Graco a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average target price of $94.50, following recent upgrades and coverage initiations.
• Graco Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL cut its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 1.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 730,662 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,825 shares during the quarter. Graco comprises approximately 0.7% of Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned approximately 0.44% of Graco worth $61,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,771 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,153,531 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,229,000 after purchasing an additional 9,772 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised 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 raised 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. 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. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock traded down $0.92 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $86.10. The company had a trading volume of 402,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 699,437. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.06 and a twelve month high of $92.86. The company has a market capitalization of $14.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $85.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.23.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. Graco's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid 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 was Monday, July 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective 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 issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graco has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.50.

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.