Eastern Bank Takes $59,000 Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 675 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Graco by 14.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG bought a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at about $111,428,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Graco by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $82.14 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $70.80 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $13.89 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.72.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors 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 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Graco Company Profile

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.