Inspire Investing LLC Cuts Stock Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Inspire Investing LLC reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 73.9%, now holding only 3,731 shares valued at approximately $312,000.
• Graco has a market cap of $14.09 billion and reported earnings per share of $0.75 for the last quarter, which was below analysts' expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.275 per share, with an upcoming payment date of November 5th for investors recorded by October 20th.

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 73.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,731 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 10,591 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $312,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 982.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 128.9% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 689 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Graco by 74.8% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 699 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set 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.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.50.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG traded down $0.14 on Monday, reaching $84.50. The stock had a trading volume of 630,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 647,804. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.08.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.05% and a net margin of 22.26%.Graco's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be given 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 of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.