Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Grows Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 110.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,931 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 47,200 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Graco were worth $7,580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Graco by 165.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,829 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,106 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 45,002.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 17,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,390,000 after buying an additional 17,551 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in Graco by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,222 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in Graco by 9.7% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 98,100 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,585,000 after buying an additional 8,700 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $86.29 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.07. The company has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.84. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.01%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Profile

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.