Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning Sells 2,204 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning decreased its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 34.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,204 shares during the period. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning’s holdings in Graco were worth $397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Graco in the fourth quarter worth about $152,941,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,136,000 after purchasing an additional 856,460 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $70,891,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,085,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,245,193,000 after purchasing an additional 726,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $270,579,000 after purchasing an additional 498,724 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GGG shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, April 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.75.

Graco Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $79.08 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.78 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.89.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 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.