Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 138,109 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after selling 4,809 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.08% of Graco worth $11,641,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 383,599 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring 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 Analyst Weigh In

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

Graco Price Performance

GGG opened at $82.64 on Friday. Graco Inc. has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.46.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts expect that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

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.