Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Takes $232,000 Position in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,753 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in Graco by 359.2% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 142.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Graco by 32.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 374,967 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $83.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.44.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $85.00 price objective 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

About Graco

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.