Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Stock Position Trimmed by Sandhill Capital Partners LLC

Sandhill Capital Partners LLC cut its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 370,601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,849 shares during the quarter. Graco comprises 2.7% of Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Sandhill Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $32,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,004 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $219,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC now owns 18,734 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 931 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 3,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 12,421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Graco

In related news, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 44,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,144,097.87. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 44,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,144,097.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.80.

Graco Stock Down 7.0 %

Shares of Graco stock traded down $6.23 during trading on Thursday, hitting $83.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,665,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 666,216. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.85. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 24.61% and a net margin of 23.07%. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 34.69%.

Graco Company 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.