New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 59,900 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 17.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 292,267 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 59,900 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.17% of Graco worth $25,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 671.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter worth $289,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 47.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 3,791 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 6.9% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 29,324 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $2,741,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 8.4% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 17,752 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,659,000 after buying an additional 1,377 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GGG shares. DA Davidson restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four equities 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 has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Graco Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG traded up $0.72 on Monday, hitting $83.24. The company had a trading volume of 551,393 shares, compared to its average volume of 731,842. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $76.28 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.31.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 2.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.04%.

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.