Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Increases Holdings in Graco Inc. $GGG

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1,757.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 53,113 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 50,254 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 481 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 982.6% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter worth $51,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GGG shares. KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price objective on Graco in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $81.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.19 and a 200 day moving average of $84.31. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.The firm had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $563.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 37.54%.

Graco 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.