Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Has $6.15 Million Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP trimmed its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 18.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,219 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 16,205 shares during the quarter. Graco comprises 1.4% of Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP's holdings in Graco were worth $6,145,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 244.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 3.6% in the 2nd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 962,163 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $76,280,000 after purchasing an additional 33,563 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. The trade was a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Peter J. O'shea sold 18,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GGG. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Graco stock traded down $1.68 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.61. The stock had a trading volume of 1,035,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 752,765. The company has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.79.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company's revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Graco's payout ratio 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.