United Services Automobile Association Purchases 455 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the quarter. United Services Automobile Association’s holdings in Graco were worth $931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 118.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Trading Up 2.1 %

GGG stock opened at $83.86 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.04 and its 200 day moving average is $85.56. The stock has a market cap of $14.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.48.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date 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.