New York Life Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New York Life Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 1,552 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $196,242,000 after purchasing an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,664,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $140,295,000 after purchasing an additional 70,927 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GGG. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $85.25 on Tuesday. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS 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%. Analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 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.