3,414 Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Purchased by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,414 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Graco by 209.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,969 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,614,000 after buying an additional 18,931 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Graco by 63.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,748 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $631,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $161,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 16.4% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,049 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Graco by 18.9% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,267,000 after acquiring an additional 10,549 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $89.52 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.63, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.24.

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). The company had revenue of $519.21 million for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco 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 in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following 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 have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 in the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Graco Profile

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.