New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 1,552 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New York Life Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,552 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the third 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 during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 254.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,298,000 after purchasing an additional 374,967 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the fourth 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 period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Down 2.1 %

GGG opened at $85.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.28.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

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.