RIA Advisory Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

RIA Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 547.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,676 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,327 shares during the period. Graco accounts for approximately 0.5% of RIA Advisory Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. RIA Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 102,901.6% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,793,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,424,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,042 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 156.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,453,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,718,018 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 251.2% in the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,619,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,944,000 after buying an additional 1,873,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Graco in the fourth quarter worth about $116,116,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 10.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,868,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,231,577,000 after buying an additional 1,538,176 shares in the last quarter. 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, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 44,903 shares in the company, valued at $4,144,097.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock traded up $0.29 on Friday, hitting $88.38. 487,106 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 649,992. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $68.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.89 billion, a PE ratio of 30.06, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.01. Graco had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 24.61%. The company had revenue of $566.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $565.86 million. On average, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the 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 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.