D.B. Root & Company LLC Has $1.24 Million Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

D.B. Root & Company LLC boosted its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,670 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 473 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Graco by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after buying an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,237,000 after buying an additional 43,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,775,000 after buying an additional 259,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GGG shares. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE GGG opened at $85.65 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $86.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.46. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 38.87%.

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.