William Blair Comments on Graco’s Q1 Earnings (NYSE:GGG)

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) – Research analysts at William Blair issued their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Graco in a report issued on Wednesday, January 29th. William Blair analyst R. Sparenblek expects that the industrial products company will post earnings per share of $0.71 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Graco’s current full-year earnings is $3.05 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Graco’s Q2 2025 earnings at $0.80 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.76 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.79 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.20 EPS.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.50.

Graco Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of GGG opened at $84.15 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.84. Graco has a 12-month low of $77.49 and a 12-month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a return on equity of 19.38% and a net margin of 23.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Graco in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Graco by 187.8% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 495 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total value of $749,919.60. Following 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Graco Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 1.31%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.01%.

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.