Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.43 Billion Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,068,824 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 72,755 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.21% of Graco worth $1,425,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 128.9% during the 1st 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 last quarter. USA Financial Formulas grew its stake in Graco by 43.6% in the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 1,057 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Graco by 21.1% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,834 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $153,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in Graco by 93.0% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,845 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 889 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GGG. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Graco Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of GGG stock traded down $2.16 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $85.36. 421,169 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 824,677. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $85.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.11. The stock has a market cap of $14.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.04. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.06 and a 12 month 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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. Graco's quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Investors of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.