Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $57.00. The stock had previously closed at $55.20, but opened at $55.05. Robert W. Baird currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Graco shares last traded at $55.04, with a volume of 558,358 shares.
Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Graco from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Graco from $43.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Graco in a report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Graco from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.00.
In other news, EVP Caroline M. Chambers sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total transaction of $964,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 42,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,050,353.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bernard J. Moreau sold 102,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.55, for a total value of $5,409,969.95. Following the sale, the insider now owns 56,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,989,306.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 144,249 shares of company stock worth $7,404,209. Corporate insiders own 4.23% of the company’s stock.
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. First Merchants Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. First Merchants Corp now owns 49,660 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $2,582,000 after buying an additional 1,094 shares during the period. First Quadrant L P CA raised its position in shares of Graco by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. First Quadrant L P CA now owns 66,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,451,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $20,968,000. Investors Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Graco in the 4th quarter worth about $364,000. Finally, Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Graco by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Virginia Retirement Systems ET AL now owns 19,000 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.09% of the company’s stock.
The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.36 and a 200 day moving average of $48.19. The company has a market cap of $9.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.98.
Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $412.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $392.61 million. Graco had a return on equity of 34.45% and a net margin of 20.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Graco Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 21st will be paid a $0.175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is a positive change from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Graco’s payout ratio is 36.84%.
About Graco (NYSE:GGG)
Graco, Inc is a manufacturing company, which designs, manufactures and markets systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense and spray fluid and powder materials. It operates through the following segments: Industrial, Contractor and Process. The Industrial segment includes the Applied Fluid Technologies division, Industrial Products division and Process division.
