New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $14.95 Million Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 177,368 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 13,726 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Graco were worth $14,950,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the third 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 period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% during the third 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. increased its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the third 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. Canoe Financial LP grew its position in Graco by 359.2% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in Graco by 25.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 6,571 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Graco Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of GGG opened at $85.84 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a PE ratio of 30.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.80.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

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

Graco Profile

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.