B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,652 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,931 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $230,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $720,000. True Vision MN LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,380,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in Graco by 51.9% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,076,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, April 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.75.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $79.25 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.03. The stock has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.17%.

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.