Graco (NYSE:GGG) Receives Market Perform Rating from William Blair

Graco (NYSE:GGG)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by equities researchers at William Blair in a research report issued on Friday, RTT News reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.25.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GGG stock opened at $82.56 on Friday. Graco has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $91.03 and its 200-day moving average is $84.96. The firm has a market capitalization 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). Graco had a return on equity of 23.01% and a net margin of 23.15%. The company had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.19 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. Graco’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Graco will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jody H. Feragen sold 5,036 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.29, for a total transaction of $464,772.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 44,903 shares in the company, valued at $4,144,097.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $152,941,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Graco by 213.3% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,257,908 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $109,136,000 after acquiring an additional 856,460 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter worth $70,891,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 726,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 498,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.