Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Sells 58,519 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lessened its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 19.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 235,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 58,519 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado owned about 0.14% of Graco worth $18,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam raised its holdings in Graco by 90.2% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Trading Down 1.5 %

GGG stock opened at $84.52 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $82.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.99. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The business had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. 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.