Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 4,277 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 55.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,947 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,277 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. MilWealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Graco by 93.1% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 956 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GGG. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $87.13 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $14.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.90, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.26.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.