New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 280,767 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 11,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.17% of Graco worth $23,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after buying an additional 140,417 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after acquiring an additional 8,485 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of Graco by 359.2% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position 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 worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $86.07 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.95. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.59 billion, a PE ratio of 30.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. Analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This trade represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GGG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective 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. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

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.