Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,480 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 53,494 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,480 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 8.8% in the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Graco by 2.3% during the third quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 6,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harvey Investment Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco by 2.9% in the second quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC now owns 5,380 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $87.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $87.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.49.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Graco Company 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.