Maren Capital LLC Raises Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Maren Capital LLC increased its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 594,713 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,444 shares during the period. Graco accounts for 3.8% of Maren Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Maren Capital LLC’s holdings in Graco were worth $50,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Graco by 6.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Graco by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,229,385 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $356,053,000 after purchasing an additional 77,093 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $244,836,000 after acquiring an additional 76,184 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 17.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 337,437 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE GGG opened at $75.70 on Monday. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.64 and a 12 month high of $93.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $85.58. The company has a market capitalization of $12.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. On average, analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. 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 1.45%. Graco’s payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.