Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Has $585,000 Stock Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 6,747 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Graco were worth $585,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $322,424,000 after acquiring an additional 4,789,042 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in 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. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 251.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,873,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at $116,116,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 10.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 16,868,602 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,231,577,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GGG. 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 note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.80.

Graco Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $89.46 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.90. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $68.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. 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 is currently 34.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of Graco stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,336. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.