K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc Sells 2,055 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc cut its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,055 shares during the quarter. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Graco by 3.4% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 254.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP increased its position in 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 buying an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

Graco Trading Down 1.2 %

Graco stock opened at $85.79 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.65 and its 200-day moving average is $85.13.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.