Raymond James Trust N.A. Buys 3,422 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 59.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 3,422 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in Graco were worth $807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 worth $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Graco in the second quarter worth $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Graco by 54.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Graco by 32.1% in 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 during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $91.08 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $85.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.73.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for 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 quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. 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, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.