Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC Sells 244 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC reduced its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 440,634 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 244 shares during the quarter. Graco accounts for approximately 2.6% of Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $37,141,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after buying an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Graco by 244.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,237,000 after acquiring an additional 43,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 32.1% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on GGG shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $85.26 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $86.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.40. The company has a market cap of $14.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 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.