HighTower Advisors LLC Trims Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

HighTower Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 510,444 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 22,428 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.30% of Graco worth $43,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 254.8% in the 3rd 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. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 374,967 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Trading Up 0.5 %

GGG stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $84.33. The stock had a trading volume of 559,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 804,674. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $84.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.51. The company has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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 $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.