Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $174.21 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $174,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in Graco by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 8.8% in the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 0.9% in the third quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in Graco by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 6,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC raised its position in Graco by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,071 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $84.75 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.66. The company has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.95, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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). 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 prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150 in the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report 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 on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.40.

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.