Graco Inc. $GGG Shares Bought by DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 199,393 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,556 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.12% of Graco worth $17,204,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 572.1% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,549,000 after acquiring an additional 372,543 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 9.1% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,261,000 after acquiring an additional 326,877 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Graco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,540,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Graco by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 693,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $59,587,000 after acquiring an additional 248,056 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Graco by 225.4% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $18,670,000 after acquiring an additional 154,853 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $81.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $13.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.05. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.06 and a 1-year high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GGG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

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.