Graco (NYSE:GGG) Rating Reiterated by William Blair

Graco (NYSE:GGG)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating restated by equities researchers at William Blair in a research note issued to investors on Friday, RTT News reports.

GGG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.25.

Graco Trading Down 0.7 %

GGG opened at $82.56 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $91.03 and its 200-day moving average is $84.96. The stock has a market cap of $13.96 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.19 million. Graco had a net margin of 23.15% and a return on equity of 23.01%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.74 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Graco will post 3.14 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Graco news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 50,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of Graco stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,378 shares of company stock worth $4,376,528. 2.63% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Graco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Graco by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,229,664 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,494,846,000 after purchasing an additional 144,146 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Graco by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $270,579,000 after purchasing an additional 498,724 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Graco by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $156,353,000 after purchasing an additional 71,788 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Graco during the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,941,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Graco by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,575,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $114,845,000 after purchasing an additional 69,151 shares in the last quarter. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.