Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys New Shares in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 32,285 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,721,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 2.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 142,918 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $12,507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,608 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Graco by 7.5% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,590 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 1.9% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Graco by 3.6% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,938 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $432,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Graco by 254.8% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GGG shares. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of 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. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Graco Stock Down 0.2 %

GGG stock opened at $83.42 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.51. The company has a market cap of $14.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.58, a PEG 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.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. 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.