Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 30,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,032 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,430,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Graco by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after purchasing an additional 144,146 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,353,000 after buying an additional 71,788 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth $152,941,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 14.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,618,000 after acquiring an additional 182,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 0.2 %

GGG stock opened at $81.64 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $80.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.93. The stock has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.80.

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.