Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Holdings Trimmed by Amalgamated Bank

Amalgamated Bank lowered its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,390 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 7,432 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Graco were worth $6,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at about $152,941,000. Flossbach Von Storch AG purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth approximately $111,428,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,136,000 after purchasing an additional 856,460 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $70,891,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $85.88 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $69.78 and a one year high of $94.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.02. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

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 return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The firm had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.