B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,843 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $686,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after buying an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Graco by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,502,000 after purchasing an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 worth $84,775,000 after purchasing an additional 259,819 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Graco Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of GGG opened at $91.08 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.86 and a 200 day moving average of $82.73. The company has a market capitalization of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.82. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is 36.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade 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.

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.