Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 694,171 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,853,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 694,171 shares during the quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned about 2.87% of Graco worth $384,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Graco in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Tobam raised its stake in Graco by 90.2% during the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GGG shares. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG opened at $84.52 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $82.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.99. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.78 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.