Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Insider Sells $1,604,337.00 in Stock

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE GGG traded up $1.07 on Monday, hitting $90.69. 666,871 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 742,514. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $85.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.48. The firm has a market cap of $15.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77.

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). The company had revenue of $519.21 million during 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 revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Institutional Trading of Graco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter worth $30,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 220.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

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.