Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Insider Sells $1,604,337.00 in Stock

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) 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 value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock traded up $1.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $90.69. 666,871 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 742,514. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.48. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 134.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in 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. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 142.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,061,000 after acquiring an additional 383,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the second quarter worth about $27,502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

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.