Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $4.21 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 18.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,076 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 11,207 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Graco by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 8.8% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GGG. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $92.29 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.79. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Graco’s payout ratio is 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.