Forsta AP Fonden Grows Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 9.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,700 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden owned 0.06% of Graco worth $8,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.5% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $183,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in Graco by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $82.14 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $70.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.93 and a 200 day moving average of $82.58.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

Graco 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.