Narwhal Capital Management Purchases 20,728 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Narwhal Capital Management grew its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 29.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,313 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,728 shares during the period. Narwhal Capital Management owned 0.05% of Graco worth $8,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.5% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Graco by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Graco by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 7,490 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $700,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Graco by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.25.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $83.82 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.79. 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 $14.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.