Graco (NYSE:GGG) Price Target Cut to $87.00 by Analysts at Robert W. Baird

Graco (NYSE:GGG) had its price objective trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $90.00 to $87.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Graco from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $88.25.

Graco Price Performance

GGG stock opened at $82.56 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $85.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 1 year low of $69.78 and a 1 year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 23.01%. The company had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $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 expect that Graco will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Graco news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.82, for a total transaction of $232,050.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 48,282 shares in the company, valued at $4,481,535.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tobam increased its position in shares of Graco by 2,330.8% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Graco by 3,063.2% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.