Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Insider Peter J. O’shea Sells 18,075 Shares of Stock

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value 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 represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Graco Stock Up 0.7 %

Graco stock opened at $90.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $85.31 and its 200 day moving average is $82.55. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $15.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. Graco’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.91 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the third 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 last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Graco by 4.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Graco by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.