Deutsche Bank AG Takes Position in Graco Inc. $GGG

Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 398,813 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,154,000. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.25% of Graco as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Comerica Bank raised its position in Graco by 54.1% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 172,328 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,126,000 after buying an additional 60,486 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Graco by 20,706.4% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 556,362 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,605,000 after purchasing an additional 553,688 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in Graco by 294.4% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 297,787 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $24,410,000 after purchasing an additional 222,279 shares in the last quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Graco in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,157,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Graco by 87.7% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 721,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,092,000 after purchasing an additional 337,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $80.82 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $77.79 and a 200 day moving average of $82.02. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.51 and a fifty-two week high of $95.69. The firm has a market cap 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 (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $590.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $608.06 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.53% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Investors of record on Monday, July 20th were paid a $0.295 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 37.11%.

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.