PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Raises Stake in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 55,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 244.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after acquiring an additional 383,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised 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 acquiring an additional 374,967 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

GGG opened at $83.85 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.46. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas raised 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four 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.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

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.