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

Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGGFree Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 4,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after purchasing an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 199,229 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,793,000 after acquiring an additional 8,352 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at about $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

Read Our Latest Analysis on GGG

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $85.26 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a PE ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.87 and its 200-day moving average is $84.32.

Graco (NYSE:GGGGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 1.29%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Graco (NYSE:GGG)

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