Graco (NYSE:GGG) Rating Reiterated by William Blair

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

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.60.

Graco Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE GGG traded up $0.26 on Friday, hitting $83.39. 425,854 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 663,824. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $91.25 and a 200-day moving average of $84.85. The stock has a market cap of $14.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 52 week low of $69.78 and a 52 week high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.74 by ($0.09). Graco had a return on equity of 23.43% and a net margin of 23.15%. The business had revenue of $492.19 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $536.19 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.74 earnings per share. Graco’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Graco will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Graco news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total transaction of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,725 shares in the company, valued at $1,191,060. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Angela F. Wordell sold 3,588 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.60, for a total value of $335,836.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,191,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.00, for a total value of $122,760.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,697 shares in the company, valued at $501,336. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Graco

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GGG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 valued at $1,494,846,000 after acquiring an additional 144,146 shares during the period. PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Graco by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,118,703 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $270,579,000 after buying an additional 498,724 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in shares of Graco by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,802,128 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $156,353,000 after acquiring an additional 71,788 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Graco in the 4th quarter worth approximately $152,941,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Graco by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,575,804 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $114,845,000 after acquiring 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.