Welch Group LLC Has $1.78 Million Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Welch Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 13.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,138 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,776,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $336,261,000 after purchasing an additional 326,877 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 62,761 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 28,795 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake 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 buying an additional 120,875 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Graco by 12.3% during 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 worth $111,691,000 after buying an additional 146,424 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Down 2.1%

NYSE GGG opened at $80.15 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.42, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.07. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.06 and a 12 month high of $92.86.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

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.