Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $174,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 671.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the first quarter worth $289,000. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in Graco in the 1st quarter valued at $1,007,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 114.1% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 8,288 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,417 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” 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 note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of GGG opened at $87.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $84.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.33. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $76.28 and a 12-month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

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.