Values First Advisors Inc. Sells 706 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Values First Advisors Inc. reduced its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 22,904 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 706 shares during the quarter. Graco makes up about 1.1% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its stake in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after acquiring an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 142.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,061,000 after acquiring an additional 383,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,446,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,882 shares of company stock worth $2,492,145 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.77. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. On average, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th were issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Graco 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.