Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Graco, with five hold ratings and two buy ratings; the average 12-month price target is $95, above the stock’s reported $76.40 price.
• Institutional investors own 93.88% of Graco’s shares, with several funds recently adding to their positions, including HSBC Holdings and Renaissance Technologies.
• Graco exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.91 versus the $0.81 consensus, while revenue rose 3.3% year over year but fell short of estimates; the company also maintains a $0.295 quarterly dividend, yielding about 1.5%.

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.00.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GGG shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded Graco from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Wolfe Research lowered Graco from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Graco from $92.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Graco in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $94.00 price objective on Graco in a report on Friday, July 24th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GGG. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Graco in the 2nd quarter valued at $16,632,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Graco by 20,706.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 556,362 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $45,605,000 after purchasing an additional 553,688 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Graco by 87.7% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 721,700 shares of the industrial products company's stock worth $61,092,000 after purchasing an additional 337,300 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Graco in the second quarter valued at $100,157,000. Finally, Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund increased its holdings in Graco by 37.5% in the first quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 135,942 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $11,507,000 after buying an additional 37,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.88% of the company's stock.

Graco Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Graco stock opened at $76.40 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $78.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.61. Graco has a 12-month low of $72.51 and a 12-month high of $95.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92.

Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $590.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $608.06 million. Graco had a return on equity of 19.54% and a net margin of 23.53%.Graco's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Graco will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 20th were given a dividend of $0.295 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 20th. This represents a $1.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Graco's payout ratio is presently 37.11%.

About Graco

Graco Inc is a leading manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1926, the company has built a reputation for innovation in spray finishing, lubrication, and fluid management technologies. Graco's solutions are designed to address the needs of paint and coatings applicators, general industry, and process fluids in a variety of end markets.

The company's product portfolio includes airless and air-assisted spray equipment, pumps for oil and gas applications, industrial lubrication systems, and automated dispensing equipment.

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