Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. reduced its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,853 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 12,456 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.13% of Graco worth $19,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Graco by 33.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,418 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,837,000 after buying an additional 8,166 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 48.4% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 22,923 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,006,000 after acquiring an additional 7,479 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Graco by 7.6% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 264,208 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $23,121,000 after acquiring an additional 18,733 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $652,736,000 after acquiring an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its position in Graco by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 14,980 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

GGG has been the subject of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:GGG traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $79.69. 978,210 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 804,936. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $83.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.17. The company has a market capitalization of $13.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $72.06 and a one year high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Graco's dividend payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

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.