Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

QUAD has been the topic of several other reports. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $8.50 target price on shares of Quad/Graphics in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “buy” rating and set a $7.60 price target on shares of Quad/Graphics in a report on Friday.

Quad/Graphics Stock Up 2.5 %

QUAD stock opened at $5.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $273.32 million, a PE ratio of -4.40 and a beta of 1.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $4.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.96. Quad/Graphics has a fifty-two week low of $3.96 and a fifty-two week high of $6.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.83.

Quad/Graphics (NYSE:QUAD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The business services provider reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $634.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $645.70 million. Quad/Graphics had a negative net margin of 2.00% and a positive return on equity of 26.62%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Quad/Graphics will post 0.76 EPS for the current year.

Quad/Graphics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Quad/Graphics’s payout ratio is -16.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Quad/Graphics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Quad/Graphics by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,767,528 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $9,386,000 after buying an additional 11,139 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Quad/Graphics by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,165,265 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,351,000 after purchasing an additional 46,882 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Quad/Graphics by 1.7% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 777,300 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $4,236,000 after purchasing an additional 13,200 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Quad/Graphics by 8.1% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 246,202 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,307,000 after buying an additional 18,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Quad/Graphics by 3.5% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 232,999 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,058,000 after buying an additional 7,914 shares in the last quarter. 39.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Quad/Graphics

Quad/Graphics, Inc provides marketing solutions worldwide. The company operates through United States Print and Related Services, and International segments. It offers printing services, such as retail inserts, publications, catalogs, special interest publications, journals, direct mail, directories, in-store marketing and promotion, packaging, newspapers, custom print products, and other commercial and specialty printed products; and paper procurement services.