Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research 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 brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $86.80.

Several equities analysts have commented on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gradient Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at about $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 220.9% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 690 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 90.2% in the first quarter. Tobam now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE GGG opened at $84.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.88.

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

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 21st. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.17%.

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.