Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Bought by Spire Wealth Management

Spire Wealth Management increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 31.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 66,799 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,120 shares during the quarter. Spire Wealth Management’s holdings in Graco were worth $5,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tobam increased its position in shares of Graco by 2,330.8% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 3,063.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 370.7% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 626 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com lowered Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Four equities research 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, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.25.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock traded up $0.69 on Monday, hitting $82.81. 593,279 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 682,339. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.32, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $90.24 and its 200 day moving average is $85.28.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 35.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,144,097.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total value of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 44,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,144,097.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528 in the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Graco

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.