Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Holdings Lifted by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,021 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new stake in Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,412,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,606,000. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI raised its stake in shares of Graco by 179.4% during the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 77,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $6,756,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,026,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Graco by 334.4% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 30,520 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,648,000 after buying an additional 23,494 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $103.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.75.

Graco Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE GGG opened at $77.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $81.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.99.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. On average, analysts predict 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 $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.