CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Increases Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 71.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 308,338 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 128,109 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.18% of Graco worth $25,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $1,444,864,000 after purchasing an additional 183,335 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Graco by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $356,053,000 after buying an additional 77,093 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Graco by 2.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Graco by 17.0% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter worth $177,434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a research note 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Graco presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG traded up $1.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $80.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,855,015 shares, compared to its average volume of 819,630. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.50, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $82.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.73. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. The business had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $526.98 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Graco's payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

Graco 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.