Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 5,742 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Private Advisor Group LLC cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 25.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 5,742 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,481,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 671.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Graco by 2.3% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 44,464 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at about $289,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 47.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,791 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Graco by 6.9% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $81.60 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $73.03 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.96 and its 200 day moving average is $82.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.