Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC Decreases Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 348 shares during the quarter. Taylor Frigon Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Graco by 3.4% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

Graco Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE GGG opened at $85.79 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $84.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.13. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.54 billion, a PE ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.