Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Acquired by Institute for Wealth Management LLC.

Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Graco were worth $410,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Albert D Mason Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 27,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its holdings in Graco by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. increased its holdings in Graco by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 6,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $84.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.66. The stock has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Graco news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of Graco 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 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

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.