Champlain Investment Partners LLC Sells 45,620 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,685,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 45,620 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned about 1.00% of Graco worth $147,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. M&G Plc grew its position in shares of Graco by 2.0% in the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 483,535 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $38,199,000 after purchasing an additional 9,673 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,730,000 after buying an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 254.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after buying an additional 140,417 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the third quarter valued at approximately $876,000. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its holdings in Graco by 95.1% during the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 17,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 8,396 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their target price 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, 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 value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % 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.

Graco Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $91.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization 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. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $85.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.68.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted 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). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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