Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Choate Investment Advisors

Choate Investment Advisors cut its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 69.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,759 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 15,200 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors' holdings in Graco were worth $570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in Graco by 3.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $17,111,000 after acquiring 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 valued at $28,730,000 after buying an additional 8,485 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake 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 valued at $130,298,000 after buying an additional 374,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $244,836,000 after buying an additional 76,184 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock traded down $0.25 on Thursday, reaching $83.28. 732,447 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 805,575. The company's 50-day moving average is $84.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.51. The firm has a market cap of $14.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a P/E/G 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 $94.77.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders 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 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco's payout ratio is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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