Insider Selling: Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Insider Sells $284,004.96 in Stock

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE GGG opened at $87.81 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.28 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.03, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.28.

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 company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 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. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Graco by 1,010.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,886 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,223,000 after acquiring an additional 50,855 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 567.4% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 42,899 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,009,000 after buying an additional 36,471 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 14.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc lifted its position in Graco by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 483,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,199,000 after buying an additional 9,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Graco by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 884,912 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $82,683,000 after acquiring an additional 24,827 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.