Vanguard Group Inc. Has $1.49 Billion Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.24% of Graco worth $1,494,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,412,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,606,000. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in Graco by 179.4% in the 4th quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 77,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,756,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,026,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in shares of Graco by 334.4% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 30,520 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,648,000 after acquiring an additional 23,494 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $88.25.

Graco Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE GGG opened at $80.21 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.18. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 23.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.