Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $93.00.

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. DA Davidson set a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 118.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 351 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Graco Stock Down 1.4 %

Graco stock opened at $82.13 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $85.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.12, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.83. Graco has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.69.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Research analysts expect that Graco will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be issued a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 39.01%.

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.