Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 391 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,489 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 391 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,069,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graco in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Graco in the first quarter worth $43,000. Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Tobam grew its holdings in Graco by 90.2% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at about $71,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Stock Down 1.0 %

GGG stock traded down $0.80 during trading on Monday, hitting $79.29. 165,809 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 746,488. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.22. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.