79,218 Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Bought by Atom Investors LP

Atom Investors LP bought a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 79,218 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $6,932,000. Graco makes up about 0.7% of Atom Investors LP's holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 72.8% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,583 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,931 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth $212,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 209.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,969 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,614,000 after acquiring an additional 18,931 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Graco by 63.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 6,748 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Graco by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Peter J. O'shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares of the company's stock, valued at $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,818 shares of company stock worth $2,026,230 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GGG. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Down 0.4 %

Graco stock traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $90.71. The stock had a trading volume of 624,882 shares, compared to its average volume of 749,402. The company has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a PE ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.00.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.04%.

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.