E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB Has $691,000 Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the quarter. E. Ohman J or Asset Management AB’s holdings in Graco were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised 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 worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the third 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 raised its position in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,571 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE GGG opened at $84.64 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.01, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.69. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th were paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,882 shares of company stock worth $2,492,145 in the last quarter. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.