KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys New Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 57,900 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Graco by 93.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,380 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 6,464 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Graco by 10.3% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 12,800 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in shares of Graco by 194.0% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 220,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $19,339,000 after purchasing an additional 145,599 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd acquired a new position in Graco in the third quarter valued at $1,850,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Graco by 33.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 32,418 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,837,000 after buying an additional 8,166 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GGG. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. 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 research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG opened at $84.24 on Wednesday. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $85.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.59. The company has a market cap of $14.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. 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 dividend 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.