Ascent Group LLC Acquires Shares of 17,448 Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,448 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,527,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Graco during the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 187.8% during 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. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Graco in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of 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 reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

GGG stock opened at $91.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.05. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued 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). Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. As a group, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.63% 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.