Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Purchased by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 114.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,872 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 6,858 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,085,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,245,193,000 after buying an additional 726,245 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Graco by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,575,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,845,000 after purchasing an additional 69,151 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 8.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 994,086 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $72,449,000 after purchasing an additional 79,954 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 988,631 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $72,051,000 after purchasing an additional 13,980 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.7% during the third quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 790,284 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $57,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on GGG. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.25.

Graco Price Performance

GGG opened at $83.34 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.43. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,500 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.82, for a total value of $232,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,481,535.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,500 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.82, for a total value of $232,050.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 48,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,481,535.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total transaction of $1,350,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 25,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,303,493.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 44,088 shares of company stock valued at $4,000,485. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.