Graco Inc. $GGG Holdings Trimmed by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 54.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,982 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 148,453 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $10,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. eCIO Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 481 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 982.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter worth about $51,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.50.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $82.38 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.07. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.06 and a one year high of $92.86. The company has a market capitalization of $13.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $590.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

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.