State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Reduces Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D decreased its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 32.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 28,009 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA bought a new stake in Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at $215,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at $299,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,082 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden boosted its stake in Graco by 220.9% in the 2nd quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 98,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,785,000 after purchasing an additional 67,600 shares during the period. Finally, Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Graco by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 200,395 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,887,000 after buying an additional 2,839 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Up 1.0 %

GGG opened at $83.96 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $81.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.08. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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 paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 35.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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 lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” 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 issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

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.