Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Claro Advisors LLC

Claro Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,563 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,508 shares during the period. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Graco by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 6,571 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Graco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $876,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $81.87 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.20. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results 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 business 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%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.275 dividend. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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, BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

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.