Renaissance Technologies LLC Lowers Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 30.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 136,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 60,100 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Graco worth $11,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,444,864,000 after buying an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Graco by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $356,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,093 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $196,242,000 after purchasing an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $177,434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

Graco Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $79.27 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $83.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued 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 yield of 1.39%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 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.