Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Grows Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 171,736 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Graco worth $15,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GGG. Private Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the third quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 293.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,801 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 2,834 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Graco by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 425,119 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $37,202,000 after purchasing an additional 3,365 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Graco by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 223,897 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $19,593,000 after purchasing an additional 26,671 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in Graco by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,551 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $84.60 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a PE ratio of 29.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.28 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.28.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.04%.

Graco Company 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.