Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Sells 694,171 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,853,256 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 694,171 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $384,766,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Graco by 76.2% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 284,346 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $22,543,000 after purchasing an additional 122,975 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Graco by 29.5% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 118,342 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,382,000 after buying an additional 26,987 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 428.9% in the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 117,617 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,325,000 after buying an additional 95,378 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 774.4% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 53,679 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,256,000 after buying an additional 47,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 857,281 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $67,965,000 after acquiring an additional 14,527 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $84.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.99. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $69.78 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The business had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.