Maren Capital LLC Grows Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Maren Capital LLC grew its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 546,269 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 43,985 shares during the quarter. Graco makes up approximately 3.9% of Maren Capital LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Maren Capital LLC owned about 0.32% of Graco worth $47,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Graco by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $137,361,000 after acquiring an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $97,237,000 after acquiring an additional 43,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Graco by 32.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, 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 value of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Peter J. O'shea sold 18,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GGG traded down $0.64 on Wednesday, reaching $90.37. 697,119 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 749,023. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.83. The company's 50 day moving average is $86.73 and its 200-day moving average is $83.11. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco's payout ratio is 36.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. 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 research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.25.

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.