Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 24.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,567 shares of the industrial products company's stock after buying an additional 14,322 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $6,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 351 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Graco during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its position in Graco by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 484 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG opened at $83.30 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $81.87 and its 200 day moving average is $84.52. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.06 and a fifty-two week high of $92.86. The company has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a PE ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. The company had revenue of $528.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $526.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.65 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given 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 1.32%. Graco's payout ratio is 38.87%.

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.

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