Graham Capital Management L.P. Decreases Holdings in Parker-Hannifin Co. (NYSE:PH)

Graham Capital Management L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Parker-Hannifin Co. (NYSE:PH - Free Report) by 50.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,100 shares of the industrial products company's stock after selling 5,179 shares during the period. Graham Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Parker-Hannifin were worth $3,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PH. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Parker-Hannifin during the 4th quarter valued at $23,390,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 752.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,381 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $15,507,000 after buying an additional 21,521 shares during the period. Columbus Macro LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 485.2% in the fourth quarter. Columbus Macro LLC now owns 10,751 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $6,838,000 after buying an additional 8,914 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Parker-Hannifin by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 190,701 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $121,292,000 after acquiring an additional 25,605 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Parker-Hannifin by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,798 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $4,960,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.44% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on Parker-Hannifin from $750.00 to $700.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Parker-Hannifin from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Parker-Hannifin from $690.00 to $735.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Parker-Hannifin from $842.00 to $805.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Parker-Hannifin from $564.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $710.12.

Insider Activity at Parker-Hannifin

In related news, VP Jay Reidy sold 150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $620.37, for a total transaction of $93,055.50. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,083 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,230.71. This represents a 6.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Parker-Hannifin Trading Up 1.5%

Parker-Hannifin stock traded up $9.78 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $678.54. The company had a trading volume of 775,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 723,694. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $86.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $599.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $646.17. Parker-Hannifin Co. has a 1 year low of $488.45 and a 1 year high of $718.44.

Parker-Hannifin (NYSE:PH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $6.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.72 by $0.22. Parker-Hannifin had a net margin of 15.87% and a return on equity of 27.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Parker-Hannifin Co. will post 26.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Parker-Hannifin Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. This is a positive change from Parker-Hannifin's previous quarterly dividend of $1.63. Parker-Hannifin's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.72%.

About Parker-Hannifin

Parker-Hannifin Corporation manufactures and sells motion and control technologies and systems for various mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets worldwide. The company operates through two segments: Diversified Industrial and Aerospace Systems. The Diversified Industrial segment offers sealing, shielding, thermal products and systems, adhesives, coatings, and noise vibration and harshness solutions; filters, systems, and diagnostics solutions to ensure purity and remove contaminants from fuel, air, oil, water, and other liquids and gases; connectors used in fluid and gas handling; and hydraulic, pneumatic, and electromechanical components and systems for builders and users of mobile and industrial machinery and equipment.