Sterling Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 55.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,914 shares of the industrial products company's stock after acquiring an additional 3,538 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $836,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 77,093 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $196,242,000 after buying an additional 337,437 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $177,434,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on GGG shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $78.59. The company's stock had a trading volume of 658,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 812,239. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.87, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.89.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.