Graco (NYSE:GGG) Given New $93.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Graco (NYSE:GGG) had its target price lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $96.00 to $93.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, September 27th. 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 research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE GGG traded down $0.20 on Friday, hitting $82.14. 689,208 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 579,519. The firm has a market cap of $13.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $83.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.72. Graco has a fifty-two week low of $70.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Graco’s revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Graco will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st will be paid a $0.255 dividend. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Graco by 134.4% during the 2nd quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 5.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $137,361,000 after buying an additional 91,794 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Graco by 14.5% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,440,378 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $134,618,000 after buying an additional 182,470 shares during the last quarter. Flossbach Von Storch AG purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $111,428,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 32.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,069,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $84,775,000 after buying an additional 259,819 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

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.