UMB Bank n.a. Has $81,000 Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 93.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 461 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Graco were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP raised its position in Graco by 359.2% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Graco by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after buying an additional 383,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at about $23,446,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.95 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.37, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.47.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 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 firm 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 earned $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.28%. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. This represents a 55.46 % 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 David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % 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 worth $2,776,150 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GGG. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.