Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Purchases 2,580 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,580 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,692,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 59.4% in the 1st quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 16,677 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after purchasing an additional 6,216 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,069,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $89,345,000 after buying an additional 14,903 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Graco by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 293,211 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $24,486,000 after buying an additional 68,084 shares during the period. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Graco in the second quarter worth $3,806,000. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 10.6% during the second quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 129,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $11,106,000 after buying an additional 12,352 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $79.14 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.46. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.06 and a one year high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly 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). Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.The business had revenue of $543.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Graco’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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