National Bank of Canada FI Has $8.90 Million Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 43.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 102,095 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 30,867 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.06% of Graco worth $8,901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Graco during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 220.9% in the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Graco in the third quarter valued at approximately $59,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE GGG traded down $1.47 on Thursday, reaching $88.65. The company had a trading volume of 571,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 745,665. The firm has a market cap of $14.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $87.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.41.

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

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Graco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O'shea sold 18,075 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 27,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Company 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.