State of Alaska Department of Revenue Decreases Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,532 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GGG. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Graco by 187.8% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 3,457 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $303,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Graco by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 81,543 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,514 shares during the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 53.7% in the 3rd quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 4,367 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walter Public Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 167,039 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $14,618,000 after buying an additional 19,364 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $85.88 on Tuesday. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $85.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.76.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th were given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,882 shares of company stock valued at $2,492,145. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco 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.