Prudential Financial Inc. Has $1.51 Million Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 14.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,884 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 2,854 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GGG shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG opened at $75.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.64 and a 52 week high of $93.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.57.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. Graco’s payout ratio 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.