Brooklyn Investment Group Purchases New Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 348 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 134.4% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the second quarter worth approximately $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 54.2% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold 22,818 shares of company stock valued at $2,026,230 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $91.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.00. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

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.