Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives $91.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.50.

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. 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 research report on Thursday, December 19th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. This represents a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total value of $1,604,337.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % 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. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GGG. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Graco by 244.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $174,210,000 after buying an additional 1,412,704 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Graco by 359.2% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 640,474 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $53,986,000 after acquiring an additional 501,003 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in Graco by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $57,061,000 after purchasing an additional 383,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Graco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $23,446,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of Graco stock opened at $83.22 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.66. Graco has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The company has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. Equities research analysts forecast that Graco will post 2.89 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.