Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Increases Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 229.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,131 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,236 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Graco were worth $1,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in shares of Graco by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $130,298,000 after acquiring an additional 374,967 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Graco by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $88,923,000 after purchasing an additional 19,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its holdings in Graco by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 184,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,518,000 after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Trading Down 0.6 %

Graco stock opened at $79.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.33 billion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $83.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.06. Graco Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.06 and a 52 week high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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.