2,636 Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Acquired by Keybank National Association OH

Keybank National Association OH acquired a new position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,636 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Graco by 4.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $196,242,000 after purchasing an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Graco by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,664,427 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $140,295,000 after purchasing an additional 70,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GGG. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Trading Down 2.2 %

GGG opened at $84.85 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $84.90 and a 200-day moving average of $85.47.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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