Graco (NYSE:GGG) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.09 EPS

Graco (NYSE:GGG) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The industrial products company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $492.19 million during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS.

Graco Stock Performance

NYSE GGG traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.56. 1,086,315 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 621,942. The business’s 50-day moving average is $91.14 and its 200-day moving average is $84.84. Graco has a twelve month low of $69.78 and a twelve month high of $94.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.81.

Graco Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.17%.

Insider Activity at Graco

In other Graco news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Graco news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the sale, the insider now owns 50,782 shares in the company, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Anthony J. Gargano sold 1,395 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,697 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,336. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528. Insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Graco from $90.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Graco from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Four 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 stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.60.

About Graco

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.