Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH Buys Shares of 2,558 Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,558 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,444,864,000 after acquiring an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $356,053,000 after acquiring an additional 77,093 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after acquiring an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $196,242,000 after acquiring an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $177,434,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Graco news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.23, for a total transaction of $309,393.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,520 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,049.60. The trade was a 11.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $87.37 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.06 and a 1-year high of $92.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.61. The company has a market cap of $14.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. The firm had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $526.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

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.