Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Lowers Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 234,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 19,442 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned about 0.14% of Graco worth $19,780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in Graco by 359.2% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth $38,199,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in 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 last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 142.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after purchasing an additional 383,599 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $84.43 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $85.58.

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 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, equities analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. 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.