Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 92,096 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 134.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 160,354 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,096 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Graco were worth $13,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its holdings in Graco by 320.7% during the second quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 345 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. eCIO Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. WPG Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 41.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 481 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 982.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GGG. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graco has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $82.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.20. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $91.00.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.02). Graco had a return on equity of 18.89% and a net margin of 22.72%.The company had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Friday, December 5th that allows the company to repurchase 15,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the industrial products company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 37.54%.

Graco 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.