Praxis Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,730 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Praxis Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 48.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,730 shares during the period. Praxis Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Graco by 14.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,792 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $400,000 after acquiring an additional 603 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 3.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 98,803 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,251,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Graco by 34.6% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 38,415 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,207,000 after purchasing an additional 9,883 shares in the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 12.8% in the first quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 176,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,708,000 after purchasing an additional 20,020 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc increased its stake in shares of Graco by 1.8% in the first quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 18,808 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG opened at $82.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.62 and a 200 day moving average of $83.99. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $571.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.57 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

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.