Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Acquires 570 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 38.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,063 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Graco were worth $164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Tobam raised its position in shares of Graco by 90.2% during the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 220.9% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $84.98 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $82.85 and a 200-day moving average of $83.31. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $69.78 and a one year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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