Whittier Trust Co. Purchases 6,041 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Whittier Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. owned about 0.11% of Graco worth $15,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Graco in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. National Pension Service bought a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE:GGG opened at $83.42 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.49 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.95 and a 200 day moving average of $85.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. 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 1.32%. 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.