PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 133 Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,137 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 133 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $4,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake 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 valued at $130,298,000 after buying an additional 374,967 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 2.7% during 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 buying an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG stock opened at $83.85 on Thursday. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The business’s 50-day moving average is $84.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.46. The company has a market cap of $14.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 39.01%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GGG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective on Graco in a research note 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

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.