Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 8,041 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 719,415 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 8,041 shares during the quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC owned 0.43% of Graco worth $62,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,069,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,502,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 54.2% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Graco

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of GGG traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $87.80. The stock had a trading volume of 473,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 731,081. The firm has a market cap of $14.83 billion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.33. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $76.28 and a one year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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). The business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors 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 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco's payout ratio is presently 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.