Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 20.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,107 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 9,969 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.'s holdings in Graco were worth $3,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GGG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Graco during the 4th quarter worth about $177,434,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake 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 worth $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,199,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its stake in Graco by 6.3% in 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. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG traded down $3.75 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $80.89. The company had a trading volume of 174,859 shares, compared to its average volume of 778,310. The business has a 50 day moving average of $84.94 and a 200-day moving average of $85.66. The company has a market cap of $13.60 billion, a PE ratio of 28.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $93.01.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Graco's payout ratio is 39.01%.

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.