Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Acquired by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 139,107 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,141 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Graco were worth $11,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1,010.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,223,000 after buying an additional 50,855 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Graco by 567.4% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $4,009,000 after acquiring an additional 36,471 shares during the last quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $1,606,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $134,618,000 after purchasing an additional 182,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.0% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Graco Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $86.23 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.57. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a PE ratio of 29.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $562.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

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.