Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $1.48 Million Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,484,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,085,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,245,193,000 after buying an additional 726,245 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 874.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 440,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,094,000 after buying an additional 395,150 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 429.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 226,870 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,683,000 after buying an additional 184,018 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $12,376,000. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 154,542.0% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 125,260 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $9,129,000 after purchasing an additional 125,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 44,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,144,097.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 44,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,144,097.87. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $89.52 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $15.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.81. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $68.78 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The industrial products company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $566.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $565.86 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 24.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 34.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada lifted 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 lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.80.

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.