Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Reduces Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,592 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,415 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,152,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 5.6% in the 2nd 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 buying an additional 91,794 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Graco by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 962,163 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,280,000 after purchasing an additional 33,563 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Graco stock opened at $87.81 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.28. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $76.28 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.