Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,328 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 188,579 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 4.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,237,000 after acquiring an additional 43,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was 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 sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Graco stock opened at $85.26 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $86.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.36. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 38.87%.

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.