Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $93.20.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at $2,406,094.26. This trade represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,098 shares of company stock valued at $2,776,150 over the last 90 days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 15,245 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at $303,000. Modus Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Graco by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 3,475 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $293,000 after acquiring an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 46.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Graco by 244.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $81.89 on Wednesday. Graco has a 1-year low of $77.49 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.13.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $538.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.87%.

Graco Company Profile

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.