Short Interest in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Rises By 7.8%

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,200,000 shares, an increase of 7.8% from the August 31st total of 2,040,000 shares. Approximately 1.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 818,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 1,010.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,223,000 after purchasing an additional 50,855 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Graco by 567.4% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after buying an additional 36,471 shares in the last quarter. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter worth $1,606,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Graco by 14.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after acquiring an additional 182,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its position in shares of Graco by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 483,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,199,000 after acquiring an additional 9,673 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graco Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $86.42 on Wednesday. Graco has a 12 month low of $69.78 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.55.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.80.

Graco Company 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.