Graco (NYSE:GGG) Given “Market Perform” Rating at William Blair

William Blair reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Graco (NYSE:GGG) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, RTT News reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Graco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $85.60.

Graco Stock Performance

GGG opened at $82.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 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 moving average is $91.14 and its 200-day moving average is $84.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict 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 paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total value of $1,350,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 25,583 shares in the company, valued at $2,303,493.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tobam raised its stake in shares of Graco by 2,330.8% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the first quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.