Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Palisade Asset Management LLC

Palisade Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,122 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 9,652 shares during the quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Graco in the first quarter worth approximately $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the 3rd quarter valued at $59,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $91.10 on Friday. 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 $15.38 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.68.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

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.