Handelsbanken Fonder AB Lowers Stake in Graco Inc. $GGG

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,842,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GGG. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Graco by 320.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 345 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Graco during the first quarter worth about $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in Graco by 41.5% during the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 481 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Graco by 982.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $80.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.08. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.06 and a one year high of $92.86. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $82.46 and its 200 day moving average is $84.41.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 37.54%.

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.