Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,412,704 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 1.18% of Graco worth $174,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth about $43,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 187.8% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at $59,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GGG traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $87.85. 184,628 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 729,749. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.28 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.82. The business's 50-day moving average price is $84.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.33.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $538.19 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. Graco's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was 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 owns 27,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.