Atria Investments Inc Grows Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,053 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,708 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Graco by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 3.6% during the second quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 962,163 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $76,280,000 after buying an additional 33,563 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of GGG opened at $89.62 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $85.13 and a 200 day moving average of $82.45.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective 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. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.