Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives $91.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $91.50.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Graco from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Graco news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total transaction of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,374 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $575,572.20. This trade represents a 19.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. This represents a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GGG. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $652,736,000 after purchasing an additional 443,141 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 4.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,152,292 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $362,808,000 after purchasing an additional 188,579 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Graco by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,904,681 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $244,836,000 after buying an additional 76,184 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Graco by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,328,179 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $196,242,000 after buying an additional 337,437 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Graco by 4.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,111,152 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $97,237,000 after buying an additional 43,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $84.15 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.00 and a 200-day moving average of $84.66. Graco has a fifty-two week low of $77.49 and a fifty-two week high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.84.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts expect that Graco will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Graco Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Monday, January 20th will be paid a $0.275 dividend. This is an increase from Graco’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.01%.

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.