Champlain Investment Partners LLC Sells 276,610 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Champlain Investment Partners LLC lowered its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,409,132 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 276,610 shares during the quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $118,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Graco in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Graco by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised 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 raised their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued 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.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $78.53 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.06 and a 1-year high of $92.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

About Graco

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.