Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $6.16 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio raised its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 70,411 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 2,609 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Graco were worth $6,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new position in Graco in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Graco during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Graco by 220.9% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GGG shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

Graco Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $87.97 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $87.21 and its 200-day moving average is $83.49.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.04%.

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.