Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $96.71 Million Stock Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 76.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,147,341 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 495,293 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Graco were worth $96,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Graco by 32.0% in 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 in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP raised its position in shares of Graco by 359.2% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after purchasing an additional 501,003 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 1.9% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 19,545 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Graco by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 184,103 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $15,518,000 after purchasing an additional 6,041 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, DA Davidson set a $85.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Graco Price Performance

GGG opened at $83.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $81.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.44. Graco Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.06 and a 1 year high of $92.86.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.02. Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%. The business had revenue of $528.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.98 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th were given 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 was Monday, April 14th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

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.