Short Interest in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Rises By 51.5%

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,060,000 shares, a growth of 51.5% from the October 31st total of 1,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 778,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Currently, 1.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total transaction of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This represents a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 22,818 shares of company stock worth $2,026,230. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after acquiring an additional 188,579 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Graco by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Stock Up 0.6 %

GGG traded up $0.52 during trading on Friday, reaching $91.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 379,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 909,996. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.00. The company has a market cap of $15.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.82. Graco has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird dropped 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.25.

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.