Park Avenue Securities LLC Acquires 139 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after buying an additional 144,146 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 19.0% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $270,579,000 after purchasing an additional 498,724 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Graco by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $156,353,000 after purchasing an additional 71,788 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at about $152,941,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 213.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,136,000 after purchasing an additional 856,460 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of GGG opened at $79.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.03. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $13.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.