Canoe Financial LP Acquires 501,003 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 359.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the quarter. Canoe Financial LP owned 0.38% of Graco worth $53,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter worth $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Graco by 187.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $59,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its position in shares of Graco by 60.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 953 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 over the last quarter. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Graco Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.87 and a 200-day moving average of $84.28.

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

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%.

Graco 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.