Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Lowers Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank reduced its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 14.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,716 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 11,474 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Graco were worth $5,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after acquiring an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after acquiring an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $196,242,000 after acquiring an additional 337,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Graco by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,664,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $140,295,000 after purchasing an additional 70,927 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $83.96 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $84.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.44.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS 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, equities analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Graco Company 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.