Walter Public Investments Inc. Purchases 19,364 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 13.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 167,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,364 shares during the period. Graco makes up 2.6% of Walter Public Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Walter Public Investments Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Graco worth $14,618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after buying an additional 144,146 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Graco by 5.6% in the second 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 purchasing an additional 91,794 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in 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 worth $134,618,000 after purchasing an additional 182,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter worth approximately $111,428,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $86.09 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.04. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.78 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.56 billion, a PE ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.25.

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.