New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Makes New $3.14 Million Investment in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 37,226 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,138,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 4,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. increased its stake in Graco by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 27,923 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,354,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Optas LLC now owns 3,360 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in Graco by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,782 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $235,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of GGG opened at $83.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $93.25. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.62.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is 39.01%.

Graco Company 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.