BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 4,055 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp reduced its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 12.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,217 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,055 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the second quarter worth approximately $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 54.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the 2nd 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.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $90.37 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $86.73 and its 200 day moving average is $83.11. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued 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 return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GGG shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped 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. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.