Albert D Mason Inc. Has $2.35 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Albert D Mason Inc. raised its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Graco comprises approximately 1.6% of Albert D Mason Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Albert D Mason Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 4,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Empirical Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Graco during the fourth quarter worth $372,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,939 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,006,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,783 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 769 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $86.87 and a 200-day moving average of $84.28.

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

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

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.