Epoch Investment Partners Inc. Buys 33,563 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 962,163 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,563 shares during the quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. owned approximately 0.57% of Graco worth $76,280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at approximately $111,428,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Graco by 213.3% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,136,000 after buying an additional 856,460 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at approximately $70,891,000. Finally, M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $44,069,000. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $84.59 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.94. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $562.27 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GGG. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 decreased their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.