Seilern Investment Management Ltd Trims Stake in Graco Inc. $GGG

Seilern Investment Management Ltd cut its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 36.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,788 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,489 shares during the quarter. Graco makes up approximately 0.2% of Seilern Investment Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Seilern Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,269,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Graco by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,277 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,745,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,431 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,562,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Graco by 5.2% during the second quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 135 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Graco by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $231,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 43.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GGG. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Graco from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research cut Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Graco from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Graco Trading Up 0.6%

GGG stock opened at $83.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.36. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.51 and a 12 month high of $95.69. The company has a market cap of $13.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $590.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $608.06 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 23.53%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 20th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 20th. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. Graco’s payout ratio is 37.11%.

Graco Company Profile

Graco Inc is a leading manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1926, the company has built a reputation for innovation in spray finishing, lubrication, and fluid management technologies. Graco’s solutions are designed to address the needs of paint and coatings applicators, general industry, and process fluids in a variety of end markets.

The company’s product portfolio includes airless and air-assisted spray equipment, pumps for oil and gas applications, industrial lubrication systems, and automated dispensing equipment.