DNB Asset Management AS Buys 290 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,529 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the quarter. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at about $152,941,000. Flossbach Von Storch AG bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter worth approximately $111,428,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Graco by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,136,000 after purchasing an additional 856,460 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at $70,891,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $270,579,000 after acquiring an additional 498,724 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $80.36 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.78 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $80.42 and its 200-day moving average is $85.32.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 22nd will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J Kevin Gilligan 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.80.

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.