Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 635 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,929 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 635 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Graco were worth $753,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the 4th quarter worth about $38,199,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Graco by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after buying an additional 383,599 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graco Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $83.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.56. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.48.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on GGG. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco 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.