3,705 Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Acquired by Trueblood Wealth Management LLC

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,705 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Fiduciary Alliance LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 10,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 2,708 shares in the last quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Tran Capital Management L.P. now owns 43,262 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $3,753,000 after acquiring an additional 5,041 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 429.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 226,870 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,683,000 after purchasing an additional 184,018 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,125 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 6,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.B. Root & Company LLC grew its stake in Graco by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC now owns 12,421 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other Graco news, CEO Mark W. Sheahan sold 12,884 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.37, for a total transaction of $1,074,139.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,768,583.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Graco news, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total value of $122,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $501,336. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mark W. Sheahan sold 12,884 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.37, for a total transaction of $1,074,139.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 93,182 shares in the company, valued at $7,768,583.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 61,262 shares of company stock valued at $5,450,667. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.80.

Graco Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE GGG traded down $0.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $93.46. 577,156 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 670,871. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $68.76 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $15.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.87, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.52.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.01. Graco had a return on equity of 24.61% and a net margin of 23.07%. The company had revenue of $566.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $565.86 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.69%.

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.