Graco Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.28 (NYSE:GGG)

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of 0.275 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%.

Graco has raised its dividend payment by an average of 10.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Graco has a dividend payout ratio of 34.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Graco to earn $3.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.8%.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock traded up $0.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $86.68. The company had a trading volume of 55,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 768,330. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $84.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.82. The company has a market capitalization of $14.64 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.84. Graco has a one year low of $77.49 and a one year high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.77 by ($0.13). Graco had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 19.38%. Analysts forecast that Graco will post 3.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GGG shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Graco from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Graco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.50.

Insider Transactions at Graco

In other news, EVP Kathryn L. Schoenrock sold 1,527 shares of Graco stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.30, for a total value of $137,888.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,374 shares in the company, valued at approximately $575,572.20. The trade was a 19.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.57, for a total transaction of $749,919.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.63% of the company's stock.

Graco Company Profile

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.