PineStone Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,340,679 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

PineStone Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 32.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,828,497 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 1,340,679 shares during the quarter. Graco makes up 2.4% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. PineStone Asset Management Inc. owned about 1.67% of Graco worth $247,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in Graco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Graco by 220.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam grew its holdings in Graco by 90.2% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Graco Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE GGG traded up $1.07 on Friday, reaching $82.52. The company had a trading volume of 658,241 shares, compared to its average volume of 732,621. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.79 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.81. The stock's 50 day moving average is $83.96 and its 200-day moving average is $82.45.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. Graco's quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco's payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

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.