Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.25.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Graco Trading Down 1.4 %

GGG opened at $83.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.85. The company has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.90, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Graco will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Graco by 0.8% in the fourth 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. raised its stake in shares of Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after acquiring an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Graco by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $134,618,000 after acquiring an additional 182,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flossbach Von Storch AG purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at $111,428,000. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

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.