Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 383,599 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.39% of Graco worth $57,061,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 5.5% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,309 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 7.1% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,031 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $161,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 8.8% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,687 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,397 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $91.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.05. The stock has a market cap of $15.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.16, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.