Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Position Boosted by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,794 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 865 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. &PARTNERS purchased a new stake in Graco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $673,000. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the second quarter worth $220,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after acquiring an additional 91,794 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 27.8% during the second quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 17,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,348,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Graco by 17.1% in the second quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 421,754 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $33,437,000 after purchasing an additional 61,490 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Graco

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $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 a total of 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 in the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GGG. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Graco Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $84.71 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $87.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.70. 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 $14.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its 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). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 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.