Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Graco (NYSE:GGG) Price Target to $96.00

Graco (NYSE:GGG) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $99.00 to $96.00 in a research report report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the industrial products company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered Graco from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, William Blair reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Graco in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $86.80.

Graco Price Performance

Shares of GGG stock opened at $83.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.82. Graco has a 1-year low of $69.78 and a 1-year high of $94.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $80.40 and a 200 day moving average of $85.43.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. Graco had a return on equity of 22.40% and a net margin of 23.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.75 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Graco will post 2.99 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 22nd will be given a dividend of $0.255 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 22nd. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.17%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Graco

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GGG. Tobam boosted its position in shares of Graco by 2,330.8% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 316 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at $38,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Graco during the first quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Graco during the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. 93.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.