Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas Makes New Investment in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 30,485 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,668,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in Graco by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after buying an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Graco by 5.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after buying an additional 91,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Graco by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,237,000 after buying an additional 43,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $87.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.49. The company has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $519.21 million during 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 was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

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.