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

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $90.25.

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

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $85.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a fifty-two week low of $69.78 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.06.

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

Graco Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.17%.

Institutional Trading of Graco

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GGG. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Flossbach Von Storch AG purchased a new position in Graco during the first quarter worth about $111,428,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Graco in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,069,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,502,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 54.2% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $64,502,000 after buying an additional 286,212 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.