Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Increases Stock Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 51,812 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 744 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 149.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 2,991 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Graco by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,855,000 after buying an additional 8,490 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $2,335,000. Novem Group raised its stake in Graco by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. Novem Group now owns 11,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP raised its stake in Graco by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 16,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after buying an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated 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 assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $82.38 on Tuesday. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $84.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.07. The company has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued 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 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. 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.