Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Purchased by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC boosted its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,382 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,942 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,308,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake 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 valued at $36,749,000 after buying an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 254.8% during the third 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. increased its position in Graco by 2.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after buying an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP increased its position in Graco by 359.2% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Graco by 25.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 6,571 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,882 shares of company stock worth $2,492,145. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.79 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $85.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th were paid a $0.275 dividend. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Graco Company 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.