Graco Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets systems and equipment used to move, measure, control, dispense, and spray fluid and powder materials worldwide. The company's Industrial segment offers proportioning systems to spray polyurethane foam and polyurea coatings; equipment that pumps, meters, mixes and dispenses sealant, adhesive, and composite materials; and gel-coat equipment, chop and wet-out systems, resin transfer molding systems and applicators, and precision dispensing solutions. It also provides liquid finishing equipment; paint circulating and supply pumps; paint circulating advanced control systems; plural component coating proportioners; spare parts and accessories; and powder finishing products to coat powder finishing on metals under the Gema and SAT brands. The company's Process segment offers pumps to move and dispense chemicals, water, wastewater, petroleum, food, lubricants, and other fluids; pressure valves used in the oil and natural gas industry, other industrial processes, and research facilities; and chemical injection pumping solutions for injection of chemicals into producing oil wells and pipelines. It also supplies pumps, hose reels, meters, valves, and accessories for fast oil change facilities, service garages, fleet service centers, automobile dealerships, auto parts stores, truck builders, and heavy equipment service centers; and systems, components, and accessories for the automatic lubrication of bearings, gears, and generators in industrial and commercial equipment, compressors, turbines, and on- and off-road vehicles. The company's Contractor segment offers sprayers to apply paint to walls and other structures; and viscous coatings to roofs, as well as markings on roads, parking lots, athletic fields, and floors. It sells its products through distributors, original equipment manufacturers, and home center channels; and directly to end-users. The company was incorporated in 1926 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
GGG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Graco from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 9th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Graco to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird downgraded Graco from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $61.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 14th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Graco from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.00.
Graco Stock Up 1.6 %
Shares of Graco stock opened at $69.71 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $61.88 and a 200-day moving average of $65.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.01 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $11.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.78. Graco has a 1-year low of $56.48 and a 1-year high of $81.09.
Graco (NYSE:GGG - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $548.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $533.49 million. Graco had a return on equity of 25.73% and a net margin of 21.38%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Graco will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Graco Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, July 18th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 15th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. Graco's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.07%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director Eric Etchart sold 6,000 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.20, for a total value of $403,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 31,403 shares in the company, valued at $2,110,281.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.52% of the company's stock.