Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Shares Bought by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 123,865 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 124 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.07% of Graco worth $10,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,141,579 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,444,864,000 after acquiring an additional 183,335 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Graco by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $244,836,000 after purchasing an additional 76,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 valued at $196,242,000 after buying an additional 337,437 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Stock Up 0.1 %

GGG stock opened at $83.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $93.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.65.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Graco’s payout ratio is 39.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

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.