GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,353 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,877 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $5,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. grew its position in Graco by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 21,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 4,878 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. NovaPoint Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 4,650 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Graco by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,882 shares of company stock valued at $2,492,145. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target 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. Finally, BNP Paribas raised 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, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG opened at $84.26 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.68.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

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

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.