BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Takes Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments bought a new stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 171,000 shares of the industrial products company's stock, valued at approximately $14,327,000. BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments owned approximately 0.10% of Graco at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Graco by 1.1% in the 4th 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 boosted its holdings in shares of 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. grew its stake in Graco by 2.7% in 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 buying an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Graco by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $196,242,000 after acquiring an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth $177,434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Graco Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $83.65. The stock had a trading volume of 228,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 813,499. Graco Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.06 and a twelve month high of $92.86. The firm has a market cap of $13.98 billion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.44.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.98 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. Graco's revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.87%.

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.