Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGGGet Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

GGG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, July 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings raised Graco from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research lowered Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Graco from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on GGG

Graco Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GGG opened at $81.77 on Friday. Graco has a 1-year low of $72.51 and a 1-year high of $95.69. The company has a market capitalization of $13.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $77.66 and a 200-day moving average of $82.03.

Graco (NYSE:GGGGet Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $590.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $608.06 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.53% and a return on equity of 19.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Graco will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 20th were paid a dividend of $0.295 per share. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 20th. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is 37.11%.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Graco in the second quarter worth about $1,396,470,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Graco by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,813,877 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $640,503,000 after buying an additional 242,817 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Graco by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,652,241 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $380,642,000 after acquiring an additional 261,126 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Graco by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,057,036 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $332,556,000 after acquiring an additional 206,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Graco by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 2,076,887 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $176,016,000 after acquiring an additional 53,126 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company’s stock.

About Graco

(Get Free Report)

Graco Inc is a leading manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1926, the company has built a reputation for innovation in spray finishing, lubrication, and fluid management technologies. Graco’s solutions are designed to address the needs of paint and coatings applicators, general industry, and process fluids in a variety of end markets.

The company’s product portfolio includes airless and air-assisted spray equipment, pumps for oil and gas applications, industrial lubrication systems, and automated dispensing equipment.

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Analyst Recommendations for Graco (NYSE:GGG)

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