Empirical Asset Management LLC Buys New Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GGG. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 6.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after buying an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,237,000 after acquiring an additional 43,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Graco Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $85.26 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.32.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 $0.275 dividend. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

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.