Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Acquired by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 62.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,756 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,060 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted 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 worth $652,736,000 after acquiring an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Graco by 4.1% in 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 valued at $97,237,000 after buying an additional 43,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Port Capital LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Port Capital LLC now owns 783,483 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $68,563,000 after buying an additional 2,125 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,882 shares of company stock valued at $2,492,145. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Graco Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $84.88 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th were issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average 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.