Graco (NYSE:GGG) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Graco (NYSE:GGG) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on GGG. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Graco in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $85.60.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $82.56 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $91.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.84. Graco has a 12-month low of $69.78 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The firm has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Graco will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total transaction of $1,350,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,303,493.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total value of $1,350,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 25,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,303,493.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 50,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,442,917.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528 in the last three months. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Tobam boosted its position in Graco by 2,330.8% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Graco during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.