Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Boosts Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 24.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 18,739 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,716 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Graco by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $130,298,000 after purchasing an additional 374,967 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,923,000 after buying an additional 19,545 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $83.35 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $93.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $85.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.62. The company has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend 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.