Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 37,859 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 84.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,863 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 37,859 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Graco were worth $601,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GGG. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in Graco by 5.5% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Graco by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 8.8% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Graco by 6.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 22,818 shares of company stock worth $2,026,230. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $90.56 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $15.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $86.16 and a 200 day moving average of $82.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.04%.

Graco 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.