William Blair Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Graco (NYSE:GGG)

William Blair reaffirmed their market perform rating on shares of Graco (NYSE:GGG) in a research note published on Friday, RTT News reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Graco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $88.25.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GGG opened at $81.97 on Friday. Graco has a 12-month low of $69.78 and a 12-month high of $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $90.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.07.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 23.01%. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.74 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Graco will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Graco news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total transaction of $253,283.55. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Graco in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $152,941,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Graco by 213.3% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $109,136,000 after acquiring an additional 856,460 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Graco during the 1st quarter worth $70,891,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,085,518 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,245,193,000 after purchasing an additional 726,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Graco by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $270,579,000 after purchasing an additional 498,724 shares during the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.