Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,069,869 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 14,903 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $89,345,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 149.5% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 4,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 13.8% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,855,000 after purchasing an additional 8,490 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter worth $2,335,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 150.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $675,000 after purchasing an additional 4,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Novem Group lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 34.5% during the 1st quarter. Novem Group now owns 11,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $994,000 after purchasing an additional 3,052 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

Graco stock opened at $85.31 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $85.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.08. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.06 and a one year high of $92.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.13 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.04.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). Graco had a net margin of 22.26% and a return on equity of 19.05%. The business had revenue of $571.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $590.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 21st were issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 21st. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Graco in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

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.