M&G Plc Purchases 27,502 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

M&G Plc raised its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 511,037 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 27,502 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc owned about 0.30% of Graco worth $44,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 220.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $88.75 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.29. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $76.28 and a one year high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $14.99 billion, a PE ratio of 31.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. 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.