Trexquant Investment LP Has $3.95 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. $GGG

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has reduced its stake in Graco Inc. by 26%, selling 16,599 shares, leaving it with 47,324 shares valued at approximately $3.95 million.
• Graco's stock has achieved a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $94.50, as several analysts have raised their ratings and price forecasts.
• The company recently reported a missed earnings estimate with an EPS of $0.75, below the consensus of $0.78, despite a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.4% to $571.81 million.

Trexquant Investment LP lowered its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 26.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 47,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 16,599 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP's holdings in Graco were worth $3,952,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,390,940 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $199,667,000 after buying an additional 62,761 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $152,737,000 after purchasing an additional 28,795 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,191,033 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $100,392,000 after purchasing an additional 79,881 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,166,270 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $98,305,000 after purchasing an additional 65,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 76.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,147,341 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $96,709,000 after purchasing an additional 495,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GGG. Wolfe Research began coverage on Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Graco Trading Up 1.9%

GGG traded up $1.64 on Thursday, hitting $86.15. 457,332 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 807,315. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $85.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.21.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 21st. 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.