BHK Investment Advisors LLC Has $541,000 Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

BHK Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,423 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. BHK Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GGG. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its stake in shares of Graco by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 89,931 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $7,580,000 after buying an additional 47,200 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Graco by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $130,298,000 after acquiring an additional 374,967 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 3,921 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,391 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,209 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $86.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $84.59 and a 200-day moving average of $85.07. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of a number of research reports. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four 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.com, Graco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

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

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.