AE Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 19th, 2023

AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,267 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $3,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 6,270 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 18.1% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 86,910 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,176,000 after purchasing an additional 13,302 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 8.3% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 96,025 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $6,879,000 after purchasing an additional 7,396 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 8.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,834 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 74.3% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 4,108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.85% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO David M. Lowe sold 31,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.17, for a total value of $2,184,251.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 601,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,226,200.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO David M. Lowe sold 31,128 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.17, for a total value of $2,184,251.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 601,770 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,226,200.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Eric Etchart sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.90, for a total transaction of $431,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 31,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,271,824.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 57,948 shares of company stock worth $4,096,787. Corporate insiders own 2.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Graco Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE GGG opened at $70.95 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.48 and a 52 week high of $73.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.92 billion, a PE ratio of 26.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $70.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.31.

Graco (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. Graco had a net margin of 21.49% and a return on equity of 25.67%. The business had revenue of $555.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $556.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 3rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 17th will be issued a $0.235 dividend. This represents a $0.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 14th. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.21%.

About Graco

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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.