Brokerages Set Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) PT at $86.80

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $86.80.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GGG shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Graco by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,494,846,000 after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its holdings in Graco by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $156,353,000 after acquiring an additional 71,788 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Graco by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after buying an additional 91,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Graco by 14.5% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE GGG opened at $87.64 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 30.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.64.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $553.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. Research analysts expect that Graco will post 2.98 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is 35.17%.

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.