Deutsche Bank AG Purchases Shares of 398,813 Graco Inc. $GGG

Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 398,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,154,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 330,409 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,592,000 after acquiring an additional 44,573 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 982.6% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 498 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco by 97.2% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,765 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 870 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 559.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 108,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $9,293,000 after purchasing an additional 91,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 4.2% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 21,289 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Graco from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Graco from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.00.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $80.82 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.51 and a one year high of $95.69.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.10. Graco had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 23.53%.The firm had revenue of $590.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $608.06 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th were issued a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.11%.

About Graco

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.