Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 22,737 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 326,104 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 22,737 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.19% of Graco worth $27,487,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $130,298,000 after purchasing an additional 374,967 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $88,923,000 after purchasing an additional 19,545 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 184,103 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $15,518,000 after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,444,864,000 after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,588 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.23, for a total value of $309,393.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,520 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,373,049.60. This trade represents a 11.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of Graco stock traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $84.00. The company had a trading volume of 67,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 816,572. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $81.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.58. The stock has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a PE ratio of 29.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.06 and a 1-year high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $526.98 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Graco's quarterly revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.