BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S Lowers Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 40.7%, selling 3,326 shares and holding 4,838 shares worth approximately $404,000.
• Graco's quarterly earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.75, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 and generated a revenue of $571.81 million, below analysts' expectations of $590.57 million.
• The stock currently holds a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with a price target averaging $94.50.

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 40.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,838 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 3,326 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S's holdings in Graco were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 101.9% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,928 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,754,000 after acquiring an additional 28,730 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Graco in the first quarter valued at approximately $9,450,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 12.1% in the first quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 82,466 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,887,000 after acquiring an additional 8,899 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Graco by 92.6% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 932 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Graco by 6.9% in the first quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 952,011 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $79,502,000 after acquiring an additional 61,517 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG traded down $1.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $86.02. 186,442 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 814,349. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86. The company has a market cap of $14.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $85.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.23.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

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.