Brookstone Capital Management Sells 922 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Brookstone Capital Management cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,594 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 922 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Graco were worth $990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tobam grew its stake in shares of Graco by 2,330.8% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors bought a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.75.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $79.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.03.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm 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 firm’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

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.