Bayforest Capital Ltd Has $665,000 Stock Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 13.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,731 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd’s holdings in Graco were worth $665,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 9.1% during 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,390,940 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $199,667,000 after acquiring an additional 62,761 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Graco by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $152,737,000 after acquiring an additional 28,795 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Graco by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,797,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $144,194,000 after acquiring an additional 120,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,337,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,691,000 after buying an additional 146,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $81.05 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.05. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86. The company has a market capitalization of $13.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business had revenue of $571.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $590.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Graco in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.