45,242 Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Purchased by Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc.

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 45,242 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,813,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its holdings in Graco by 3.4% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after acquiring an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after acquiring an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in Graco by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after purchasing an additional 6,571 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.84 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $84.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.80. The stock has a market cap of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.