Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Graco (NYSE:GGG)

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their outperform rating on shares of Graco (NYSE:GGG) in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $103.00 target price on the industrial products company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, William Blair reissued a market perform rating on shares of Graco in a report on Friday, April 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $90.75.

Graco Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GGG opened at $79.28 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $81.44 and its 200-day moving average is $86.04. Graco has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77. The company has a market capitalization of $13.41 billion, a PE ratio of 27.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.82.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $536.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 23.01%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.74 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Graco will post 3.05 EPS for the current year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.255 per share. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 22nd. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.17%.

Institutional Trading of Graco

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Graco by 107.9% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,203 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Graco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $243,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Graco by 60.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 207,202 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $15,101,000 after acquiring an additional 78,107 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Graco by 874.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 440,363 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $32,094,000 after purchasing an additional 395,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Graco by 61.2% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 8,225 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% 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.