William Blair Comments on Graco’s FY2025 Earnings (NYSE:GGG)

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) – William Blair boosted their FY2025 EPS estimates for shares of Graco in a report released on Thursday, October 23rd. William Blair analyst R. Sparenblek now expects that the industrial products company will post earnings of $3.06 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $3.00. The consensus estimate for Graco’s current full-year earnings is $3.06 per share.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $543.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.07 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.72% and a return on equity of 18.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GGG. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Graco has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Graco Stock Up 0.9%

Graco stock opened at $82.42 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $84.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.13, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.07. Graco has a 52-week low of $72.06 and a 52-week high of $92.86.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the second quarter valued at approximately $170,661,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 116.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 735,146 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $63,201,000 after acquiring an additional 396,125 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 572.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 437,661 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $36,549,000 after acquiring an additional 372,543 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 9.1% during the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,911,372 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $336,261,000 after acquiring an additional 326,877 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Graco during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,540,000. 93.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.54%.

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.