Geode Capital Management LLC Has $362.81 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 4.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.46% of Graco worth $362,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Graco by 33.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 56,047 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,905,000 after purchasing an additional 13,906 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Graco by 3.8% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 70,411 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,162,000 after buying an additional 2,609 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Graco by 5.9% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 73,680 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,448,000 after buying an additional 4,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.4% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 7,476 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $654,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GGG. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG stock traded down $0.72 on Friday, reaching $87.93. 400,024 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 744,346. The business's 50 day moving average price is $87.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.52. The company has a market capitalization of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.87% and a return on equity of 21.24%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a positive change from Graco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. 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.