Graco (NYSE:GGG - Free Report) had its price target raised by Royal Bank of Canada from $93.00 to $97.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company's stock.
GGG has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Graco from $88.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. BNP Paribas raised Graco from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $105.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $79.00 price target on shares of Graco in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Graco currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.20.
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Graco Stock Up 0.7 %
NYSE:GGG traded up $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $84.08. 470,254 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 574,577. Graco has a 1 year low of $77.49 and a 1 year high of $94.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.84.
Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The industrial products company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.05). Graco had a return on equity of 21.24% and a net margin of 22.87%. The business had revenue of $519.21 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $538.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Graco will post 2.89 EPS for the current year.
Graco Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 20th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. This is an increase from Graco's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.87%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Graco
In other Graco news, insider Caroline M. Chambers sold 8,280 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 57,612 shares in the company, valued at $5,217,918.84. The trade was a 12.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Peter J. O'shea sold 18,075 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.76, for a total transaction of $1,604,337.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,440.16. This trade represents a 55.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,098 shares of company stock worth $2,776,150 in the last ninety days. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional Trading of Graco
Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 244.4% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,990,742 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $174,210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,704 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Graco by 6.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,458,988 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $652,736,000 after buying an additional 443,141 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Graco by 142.9% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 652,048 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $57,061,000 after buying an additional 383,599 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Graco in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,502,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Graco by 54.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 814,321 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $64,502,000 after acquiring an additional 286,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.88% of the company's stock.
Graco Company Profile
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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.
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