Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Stake Trimmed by FORA Capital LLC

FORA Capital LLC lowered its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 64.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 6,685 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Graco by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,502,000 after acquiring an additional 286,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Graco by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Graco

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,818 shares of company stock worth $2,026,230. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Graco Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $91.08 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $86.39 and a 200-day moving average of $82.95.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly 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). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Graco’s payout ratio is 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.