Harvey Investment Co. LLC Buys 1,200 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Harvey Investment Co. LLC grew its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,580 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its stake in Graco by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 4,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 27,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Graco by 3.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its position in Graco by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $283,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in Graco by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock opened at $84.26 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $85.44 and a 200-day moving average of $84.68. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In related news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,882 shares of company stock valued at $2,492,145 in the last quarter. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.