Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $174.21 Million Holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) by 244.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 1.18% of Graco worth $174,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $57,061,000 after buying an additional 383,599 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,502,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Graco by 54.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $64,502,000 after acquiring an additional 286,212 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $84,775,000 after acquiring an additional 259,819 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Graco

In related news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150 over the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.40.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $84.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.95, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.83. Graco Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $87.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.66.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.87%.

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.