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

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $91.50.

A number of research firms have commented on GGG. BNP Paribas raised shares of Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,246 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 over the last ninety days. 2.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GGG. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Graco by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 419,942 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,749,000 after acquiring an additional 13,876 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Graco by 254.8% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 195,533 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $17,111,000 after purchasing an additional 140,417 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Graco by 2.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 328,306 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $28,730,000 after purchasing an additional 8,485 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $53,986,000 after buying an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Graco by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 31,991 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 6,571 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $85.62 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $14.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.25, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.84. Graco has a 12 month low of $77.49 and a 12 month high of $94.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $86.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.57.

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

Graco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 38.87%.

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.