American Century Companies Inc. Sells 183,849 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

American Century Companies Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 571,027 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 183,849 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $45,271,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Graco during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in Graco in the first quarter worth $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised 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 valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam lifted its position in shares of Graco by 90.2% during the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.80.

Graco Trading Up 1.0 %

Graco stock opened at $83.96 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.08. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

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.