Haverford Trust Co Acquires Shares of 2,821 Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Haverford Trust Co bought a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,821 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 671.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 4,950 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Graco by 3.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 177,706 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $16,608,000 after purchasing an additional 6,563 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Graco by 20.0% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 92,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,686,000 after purchasing an additional 15,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Graco by 9.1% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.25.

Graco Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $89.18 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.40. 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 results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The business’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.