Russell Investments Group Ltd. Increases Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 9.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,139,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 94,262 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Graco were worth $98,010,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 9.1% during the second 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. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Graco by 1.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $152,737,000 after buying an additional 28,795 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Graco by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,797,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $144,194,000 after purchasing an additional 120,875 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of Graco by 12.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Graco by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,291,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $107,851,000 after acquiring an additional 144,134 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Graco Stock Performance

GGG opened at $82.36 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $13.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG 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 $91.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $82.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.40.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.54%.

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.