Natixis Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 66.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,116 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 106,852 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 18,720 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 1,095 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 24.4% in the second quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,077 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,653,000 after acquiring an additional 9,043 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Graco in the second quarter valued at $428,000. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new position in Graco during the 2nd quarter worth $294,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Graco by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,504 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. StockNews.com cut Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.80.

Graco Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $80.03 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.43.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 22nd were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 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.