Empower Advisory Group LLC Takes Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Empower Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 18,996 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 572.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,549,000 after acquiring an additional 372,543 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 326,877 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at $26,540,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Graco by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 693,111 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $59,587,000 after purchasing an additional 248,056 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Graco by 225.4% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 223,569 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $18,670,000 after purchasing an additional 154,853 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $80.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.49. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $72.06 and a 52-week high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.The business had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th were issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.