First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Buys 549 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,856 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 549 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Graco were worth $425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GGG. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Graco during the first quarter valued at about $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Graco by 187.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam raised its position in shares of Graco by 90.2% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $82.52 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $83.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.35. The company has a market cap of $13.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.16, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $74.79 and a one year high of $94.77.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.