Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Buys 8,485 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $28,730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $161,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective 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 on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $89.62 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.13 and a 200 day moving average of $82.47. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Company 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.