Confluence Investment Management LLC Has $59.46 Million Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC cut its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 705,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,988 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned about 0.42% of Graco worth $59,460,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $59,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 60.4% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 953 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Graco Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE GGG traded down $0.73 during trading on Thursday, hitting $83.56. 94,687 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 743,439. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $87.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.01. The company has a market cap of $14.11 billion, a PE ratio of 29.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150 over the last ninety days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.