Bessemer Group Inc. Purchases 2,991 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 149.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,992 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,991 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,923,000 after buying an additional 19,545 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 13.8% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 70,117 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $5,855,000 after purchasing an additional 8,490 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 184,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,518,000 after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,444,864,000 after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Graco by 150.6% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,998 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $675,000 after buying an additional 4,806 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.23, for a total value of $309,393.24. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 27,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,049.60. This represents a 11.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Graco Stock Up 2.0%

GGG stock opened at $87.67 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $84.24 and a 200 day moving average of $83.75. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.06 and a twelve month high of $92.86. The firm has a market cap of $14.65 billion, a PE ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.06.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $528.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.98 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.42% and a net margin of 22.70%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Graco in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $93.00.

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.