American National Bank & Trust Has $1.27 Million Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

American National Bank & Trust lessened its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,480 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 764 shares during the quarter. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 1,010.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,223,000 after acquiring an additional 50,855 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Graco by 567.4% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after purchasing an additional 36,471 shares in the last quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter worth $1,606,000. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Graco by 14.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,618,000 after purchasing an additional 182,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc boosted its position in shares of Graco by 2.0% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 483,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,199,000 after purchasing an additional 9,673 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of GGG opened at $86.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.78 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.55.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.