Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Holdings Boosted by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 213,387 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Graco accounts for 1.0% of Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC owned 0.13% of Graco worth $17,986,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted 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 valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 142.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after buying an additional 383,599 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 32.0% during the 4th 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 period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Graco Trading Up 1.4 %

GGG stock opened at $87.60 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.31. The firm has a market cap of $14.85 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released 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 return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 39.01%.

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.