Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Reduces Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd decreased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 55.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,447 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 10,696 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Graco were worth $712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Graco by 93.1% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 956 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

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Graco Price Performance

GGG stock traded down $1.00 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.26. The stock had a trading volume of 740,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 797,450. The business has a 50-day moving average of $84.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.28. The firm has a market cap of $14.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.