Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 183,335 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.15% of Graco worth $1,444,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 93.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,380 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after buying an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Graco by 194.0% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 220,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,339,000 after acquiring an additional 145,599 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd acquired a new position in Graco in the third quarter worth about $1,850,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 33.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 8,166 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GGG. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $84.43 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.47. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.58.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Graco 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.