MBB Public Markets I LLC Acquires New Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,448 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $828,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,494,846,000 after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Graco by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $137,361,000 after acquiring an additional 91,794 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Graco by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $134,618,000 after acquiring an additional 182,470 shares during the period. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter worth $111,428,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $86.80.

Graco Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GGG traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $86.52. 11,739 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 740,779. The stock has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $82.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.55. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $69.78 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.17%.

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.