Korea Investment CORP Raises Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Korea Investment CORP increased its holdings in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 270.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,700 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,700 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.08% of Graco worth $10,932,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its stake in shares of Graco by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $36,749,000 after purchasing an additional 13,876 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Graco by 32.0% during 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 buying an additional 374,967 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 2.7% in the fourth 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. Canoe Financial LP boosted its stake in Graco by 359.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,054,966 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $88,923,000 after acquiring an additional 19,545 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Graco Trading Down 1.3 %

Graco stock opened at $83.35 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.64. Graco Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $93.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83.

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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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