Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 123,865 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Graco were worth $10,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GGG. Korea Investment CORP raised its holdings in Graco by 270.6% in the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 129,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $10,932,000 after buying an additional 94,700 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $209,000. United Services Automobile Association lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,044 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $931,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,444,864,000 after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 68,194 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,748,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GGG shares. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $83.55 on Tuesday. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $93.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.65. The firm has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.