Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Purchased by Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 43.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,870 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GGG. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 43.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 128,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,154,000 after purchasing an additional 38,853 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 38.2% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,063 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $985,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Graco by 44.3% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 47,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $4,165,000 after buying an additional 14,600 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 19.4% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,861 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $83.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $85.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.67. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

About Graco

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.