Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $90.75.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $103.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th.

Graco Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $81.20 on Wednesday. Graco has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.73 billion, a PE ratio of 28.00, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.48 and its 200-day moving average is $85.56.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm 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%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.74 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Graco will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Curated Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Graco by 181.2% in the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,206 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 11,615 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Graco by 73.0% in the second quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $140,000 after buying an additional 745 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Graco by 18.9% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,435 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $5,267,000 after buying an additional 10,549 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Graco by 16.4% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,507 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 2,049 shares during the period. Finally, Cardinal Capital Management raised its stake in Graco by 2.7% in the second quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 29,941 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after buying an additional 788 shares during the period. 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.