Harfst & Associates Inc. Boosts Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Harfst & Associates Inc. increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,893 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,253 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,098,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Graco by 6.3% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Graco by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Graco by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Graco by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $196,242,000 after purchasing an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Graco by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,664,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $140,295,000 after purchasing an additional 70,927 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GGG shares. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Graco Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE GGG opened at $85.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.13. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

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.