Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 54,905 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,116 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its stake in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Graco by 254.8% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after buying an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Graco by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after buying an additional 8,485 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Graco by 25.8% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 6,571 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. 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 upped their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of Graco stock opened at $87.18 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $84.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.88. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. 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.