Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $841,000 Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,611 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 826 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Graco in the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 220.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam raised its holdings in Graco by 90.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Graco Stock Performance

Graco stock opened at $82.14 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $70.80 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $83.93 and a 200-day moving average of $82.58.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.17%.

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.