Modus Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Modus Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 9.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings 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 worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 worth $17,111,000 after acquiring an additional 140,417 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Graco by 2.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 8,485 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Graco by 25.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 6,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Graco during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $876,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of Graco 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $83.52. 49,700 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 359,483. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.01.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

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.