Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $84.80.

A number of research firms recently commented on GGG. StockNews.com raised Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.82, for a total value of $232,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,481,535.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528 in the last quarter. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,494,846,000 after buying an additional 144,146 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 19.0% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $270,579,000 after acquiring an additional 498,724 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,353,000 after purchasing an additional 71,788 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,941,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Graco by 4.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,575,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,845,000 after purchasing an additional 69,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG opened at $83.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.01 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $91.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.85. Graco has a 1 year low of $68.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). Graco had a return on equity of 23.43% and a net margin of 23.15%. The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

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.