Trexquant Investment LP Sells 16,599 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Trexquant Investment LP cut its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 26.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,324 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 16,599 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,952,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 76.0% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,147,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $96,709,000 after buying an additional 495,293 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 9,453.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 400,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $33,419,000 after buying an additional 395,991 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,478,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter worth approximately $26,540,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,853,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GGG. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $85.31 on Tuesday. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86. The company has a market capitalization of $14.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.21.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The firm had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st were paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

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.