Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Insider Jeffrey P. Johnson Sells 6,463 Shares

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) insider Jeffrey P. Johnson sold 6,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.52, for a total transaction of $507,474.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,421,164.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Graco Stock Performance

Graco stock opened at $78.94 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $72.96 and a 200-day moving average of $70.40. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $56.48 and a 1 year high of $80.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $13.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.80.

Graco (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The industrial products company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $529.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $501.87 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.44% and a return on equity of 26.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,868,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,231,577,000 after buying an additional 1,538,176 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Graco by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,619,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $556,330,000 after purchasing an additional 878,009 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 102,901.6% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,793,696 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $322,424,000 after purchasing an additional 4,789,042 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Graco by 156.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,453,162 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $299,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,718,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,846,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $191,458,000 after purchasing an additional 80,199 shares during the last quarter. 85.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GGG shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Graco from $75.00 to $83.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Graco from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. StockNews.com began coverage on Graco in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $89.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.25.

Graco Company Profile

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Graco, Inc is a manufacturing company, which engages in the design, manufacture, and sale of systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials. It operates through the following segments: Industrial, Process, and Contractor. The Industrial segment markets equipment and pre-engineered packages for moving and applying paints, coatings, sealants, adhesives, and other fluids.