Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Takes $204,000 Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,567 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Graco by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 27,434 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,380,000 after buying an additional 1,573 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at $340,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Graco by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 161,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $13,977,000 after buying an additional 1,483 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Graco by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 43,199 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,747,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 16,375 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after buying an additional 4,336 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 2.1 %

GGG opened at $81.63 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.57. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average 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.