Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Acquired by Maren Capital LLC

Maren Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 594,713 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,444 shares during the period. Graco accounts for 3.8% of Maren Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Maren Capital LLC owned 0.35% of Graco worth $50,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.1% during 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 buying an additional 183,335 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Graco by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $356,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,093 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 337,437 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock 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 target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. 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

Graco stock opened at $75.70 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.64 and a fifty-two week high of $93.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.58.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s 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.