D.B. Root & Company LLC Sells 305 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

D.B. Root & Company LLC lowered its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 305 shares during the period. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fenimore Asset Management Inc raised its position in Graco by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 1,098,618 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $94,448,000 after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the last quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC raised its position in Graco by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Running Oak Capital LLC now owns 185,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,922,000 after purchasing an additional 9,087 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $764,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop National Bank bought a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $161,000. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GGG. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.50.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $84.75 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $84.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.07. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86.

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). The business had revenue of $571.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business’s revenue was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

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.