Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 477,200 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 24,800 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Graco were worth $40,223,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position 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 worth $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Graco by 254.8% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in Graco by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $130,298,000 after purchasing an additional 374,967 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $83.96 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.51. The company has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. On average, research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

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.