JPMorgan Chase & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 678,118 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 78,374 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.40% of Graco worth $59,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new stake in Graco during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,668,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 37.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 119,708 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,413,000 after purchasing an additional 32,475 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 47,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,151,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 12,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after purchasing an additional 865 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % 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 Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Up 0.7 %

GGG stock opened at $84.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.06. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s payout ratio is 38.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GGG shares. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.20.

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.