Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 286,212 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 54.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 286,212 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $64,502,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the second quarter worth $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Tobam lifted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $85.88 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.02. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.78 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

About Graco

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.