Insider Selling: Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) EVP Sells 1,527 Shares of Stock

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $91.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.95.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Graco’s payout ratio is 36.04%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GGG. State Street Corp grew its stake in Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $362,808,000 after acquiring an additional 188,579 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Graco by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after acquiring an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

About Graco

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.