MQS Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,003 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $476,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in Graco by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 8.8% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Graco by 1.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 6.3% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on GGG. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.80.

Graco Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $85.88 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.78 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $81.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.02.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Graco’s dividend 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.