Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Decreases Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC reduced its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 32.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,238 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 29,378 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $5,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 134.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $137,361,000 after acquiring an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 14.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $134,618,000 after purchasing an additional 182,470 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG acquired a new stake in Graco during the first quarter worth about $111,428,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GGG. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG traded down $0.16 during trading on Thursday, hitting $81.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 968,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 732,974. The company has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a PE ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.03 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $83.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.45.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Graco's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. 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.