Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 918 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 18.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $509,000 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. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 572.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,549,000 after purchasing an additional 372,543 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $336,261,000 after acquiring an additional 326,877 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at about $26,540,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Graco by 55.7% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 693,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,587,000 after acquiring an additional 248,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 225.4% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,670,000 after purchasing an additional 154,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 1.4%

GGG opened at $81.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.34. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.07 million. Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price target on Graco in a research report on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

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.