HighTower Advisors LLC Has $24.08 Million Stake in Graco Inc. $GGG

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 16.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 318,523 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 63,952 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $24,084,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 6,804.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 20,492,805 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,549,461,000 after acquiring an additional 20,195,984 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the second quarter worth $1,396,470,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,813,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $640,503,000 after acquiring an additional 242,817 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Graco by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,652,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $380,642,000 after purchasing an additional 261,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Graco by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,057,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $332,556,000 after purchasing an additional 206,949 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GGG. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Graco from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Graco from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.00.

Graco Stock Down 1.0%

Graco stock opened at $77.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.92. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.51 and a 12-month high of $95.69.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $590.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $608.06 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.53% and a return on equity of 19.54%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 20th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 20th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 37.11%.

Graco Profile

Graco Inc is a leading manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1926, the company has built a reputation for innovation in spray finishing, lubrication, and fluid management technologies. Graco’s solutions are designed to address the needs of paint and coatings applicators, general industry, and process fluids in a variety of end markets.

The company’s product portfolio includes airless and air-assisted spray equipment, pumps for oil and gas applications, industrial lubrication systems, and automated dispensing equipment.