KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys New Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 57,900 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $4,880,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in Graco by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 32.0% in 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 buying an additional 374,967 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $244,836,000 after buying an additional 76,184 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew 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 acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 1.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 19,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GGG. BNP Paribas raised 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. DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock traded down $1.09 on Friday, reaching $83.35. The company had a trading volume of 583,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 779,448. The company has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $93.25. The company's fifty day moving average is $85.03 and its 200 day moving average is $85.62.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. 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.