Mariner LLC Grows Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Mariner LLC grew its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,415 shares of the industrial products company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,691 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in Graco were worth $6,020,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its position in Graco by 32.0% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,545,846 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $130,298,000 after buying an additional 374,967 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP raised its stake 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 purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Graco by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $88,923,000 after purchasing an additional 19,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 184,103 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $15,518,000 after buying an additional 6,041 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on GGG shares. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Four 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Graco Trading Up 0.9 %

Graco stock traded up $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $81.24. 302,879 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 817,605. The firm has a market cap of $13.66 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $82.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.70. Graco Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.06 and a 12-month high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. The business had revenue of $528.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.98 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. 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.