Carlson Capital Management Acquires 200 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Carlson Capital Management grew its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,699 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Carlson Capital Management’s holdings in Graco were worth $2,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GGG. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Graco Price Performance

Graco stock opened at $84.33 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.52. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 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.