Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 304,144 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,782,371 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 304,144 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 1.06% of Graco worth $150,236,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Graco by 26.7% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 14,407 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 3,040 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at about $410,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 14,548 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 101,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,522,000 after purchasing an additional 15,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 85,012 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,166,000 after buying an additional 11,332 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GGG. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $84.66 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.49 and a twelve month high of $93.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.66.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. 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.