Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 25,600 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lowered its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 87.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,800 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 25,600 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's holdings in Graco were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its stake in shares of Graco by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 4,860 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. grew its stake in Graco by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 27,923 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $2,354,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC grew its stake in Graco by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $283,000 after buying an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Graco by 39.1% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 14,548 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $1,226,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Graco Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of GGG stock traded up $0.80 on Thursday, reaching $82.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 150,149 shares, compared to its average volume of 817,518. The company has a market capitalization of $13.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $82.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.59.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $528.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $526.98 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. Research analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco's payout ratio is 38.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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 note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

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.