Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Position Lowered by Amalgamated Bank

Amalgamated Bank reduced its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,432 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank owned approximately 0.05% of Graco worth $6,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1,010.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,223,000 after acquiring an additional 50,855 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Graco by 567.4% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after purchasing an additional 36,471 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $6,412,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $1,606,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.80.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $85.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.78 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.02.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Graco Company 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.