Mutual Advisors LLC Buys 453 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 7,089 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 185,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,643,000 after acquiring an additional 13,854 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco by 71.2% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,785 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Graco by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 68,030 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,734,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC raised its position in Graco by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, 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 note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $83.22 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.66. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. Equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 38.87%.

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.