Graco Inc. $GGG Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 339,041 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 3,114 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Graco worth $29,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 572.1% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,549,000 after acquiring an additional 372,543 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,261,000 after buying an additional 326,877 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $26,540,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Graco by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 693,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,587,000 after buying an additional 248,056 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Graco by 225.4% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,670,000 after buying an additional 154,853 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

Graco Stock Down 0.6%

GGG opened at $81.48 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.31. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86. The firm has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Graco had a net margin of 22.72% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The firm had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.54%.

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.