Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Stock Position Lifted by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 13.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,494,846,000 after buying an additional 144,146 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 134.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Graco by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Graco by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after purchasing an additional 182,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG acquired a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $111,428,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GGG shares. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced 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 downgraded shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.80.

Graco Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GGG opened at $84.88 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The business had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 35.17%.

Graco 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.