Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 4,867 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Graco by 1.1% in the fourth 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. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 4.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after buying an additional 188,579 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after acquiring an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $196,242,000 after acquiring an additional 337,437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Stock Up 0.3 %

GGG opened at $84.66 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $93.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.94 and a 200-day moving average of $85.66.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced 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%. On average, analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s 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.