Brokerages Set Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Price Target at $89.25

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $89.25.

Several brokerages have issued reports on GGG. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price 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 dropped their target price on Graco from $96.00 to $93.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, September 27th.

Graco Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $90.22 on Tuesday. Graco has a 52-week low of $77.49 and a 52-week high of $94.77. The stock has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50 day moving average is $85.31 and its 200 day moving average is $82.55.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The firm had revenue of $519.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.19 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Graco will post 2.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Investors of record on Monday, October 21st were paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 21st. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.04%.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other news, insider Peter J. O’shea sold 18,075 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. The trade was a 55.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider David J. Thompson sold 3,216 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.31, for a total value of $284,004.96. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,406,094.26. This represents a 10.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.63% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Graco by 6.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 134.4% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,169,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $330,532,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390,602 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Graco by 4.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Graco by 5.6% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,732,600 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $137,361,000 after purchasing an additional 91,794 shares during the period. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.