Marshall Financial Group LLC Purchases 164 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Marshall Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,583 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Marshall Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Graco by 25.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 6,571 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $85.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $86.55 and a 200-day moving average of $84.57. The stock has a market cap of $14.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 in the last three months. Corporate 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.