Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Buys 553 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 553 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Graco were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 102,901.6% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,793,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $322,424,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,042 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Graco by 156.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,453,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $299,520,000 after buying an additional 2,718,018 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 251.2% in the third quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,619,979 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $190,944,000 after buying an additional 1,873,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $116,116,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 10.0% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,868,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,231,577,000 after acquiring an additional 1,538,176 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Graco Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $89.46 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.05 and a 200 day moving average of $83.90. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77.

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 net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 24.61%. The firm had revenue of $566.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $565.86 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.69%.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In related news, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total transaction of $122,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,697 shares in the company, valued at $501,336. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Graco news, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total value of $122,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,336. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total transaction of $1,350,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,303,493.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.