Champlain Investment Partners LLC Sells 45,620 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,685,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 45,620 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $147,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 187.8% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 3rd quarter worth about $59,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 220.9% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $91.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.68. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.