Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 9,739 Shares of Graco Inc. $GGG

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 30.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 41,615 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 9,739 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,523,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Graco by 32.7% in the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 398,336 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,652,000 after acquiring an additional 98,141 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Graco by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 172,328 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $14,126,000 after purchasing an additional 60,486 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Graco by 40.5% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 45,544 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,869,000 after purchasing an additional 13,130 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,527,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 20,706.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 556,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $45,605,000 after purchasing an additional 553,688 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings cut Graco from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (down from $95.00) on shares of Graco in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.50.

Graco Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $74.61 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.38 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.90. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.51 and a twelve month high of $95.69.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $540.14 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $561.35 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.96% and a return on equity of 18.66%. The business’s revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th will be paid a $0.295 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 20th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Andrea Helen Simon purchased 1,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $80.53 per share, with a total value of $99,857.20. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,857.20. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.18% of the company’s stock.

Graco Company Profile

Graco Inc is a leading manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1926, the company has built a reputation for innovation in spray finishing, lubrication, and fluid management technologies. Graco’s solutions are designed to address the needs of paint and coatings applicators, general industry, and process fluids in a variety of end markets.

The company’s product portfolio includes airless and air-assisted spray equipment, pumps for oil and gas applications, industrial lubrication systems, and automated dispensing equipment.