Bessemer Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Graco Inc. $GGG

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 18.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 9.1% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $336,261,000 after buying an additional 326,877 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Graco by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,828,962 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $152,737,000 after acquiring an additional 28,795 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Graco by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,797,477 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $144,194,000 after acquiring an additional 120,875 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,337,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $111,691,000 after purchasing an additional 146,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,291,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $107,851,000 after purchasing an additional 144,134 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GGG. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $81.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.91, a PEG ratio of 2.71 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 quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $563.07 million. Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.Graco’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 37.54%.

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.