Procyon Advisors LLC Acquires 921 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 26.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $369,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Graco by 3.4% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 254.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after buying an additional 140,417 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,730,000 after buying an additional 8,485 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Graco by 25.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 6,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Graco during the third quarter worth $876,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the firm’s 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $85.26 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $86.87 and its 200-day moving average is $84.36. The firm has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced 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). Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective 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, BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

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.