Bank of America Corp DE Sells 50,059 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Bank of America Corp DE trimmed its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 548,832 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 50,059 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Graco were worth $46,261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter valued at about $177,434,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in Graco by 26,738.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,841,916 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $155,255,000 after buying an additional 1,835,053 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Graco by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,929,952 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $162,676,000 after buying an additional 518,462 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 48.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,497,164 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $126,196,000 after buying an additional 486,277 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.23, for a total value of $309,393.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,049.60. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $85.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $14.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.50.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The firm had revenue of $528.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $526.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

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.