Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, October 17th will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, November 2nd. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 14th.
Graco has raised its dividend by an average of 11.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 24 consecutive years. Graco has a dividend payout ratio of 29.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Graco to earn $2.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.
Graco Stock Down 0.4 %
GGG traded down $0.26 on Monday, hitting $60.95. 750,636 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 634,710. Graco has a 12 month low of $56.48 and a 12 month high of $81.09. The company has a market cap of $10.31 billion, a PE ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 3.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.44 and its 200-day moving average is $64.29.
Graco (NYSE:GGG – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 27th. The industrial products company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $548.55 million for 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 business’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Graco will post 2.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other Graco news, EVP David M. Ahlers sold 44,949 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.77, for a total transaction of $3,181,040.73. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,135 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,603.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP David M. Ahlers sold 44,949 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.77, for a total value of $3,181,040.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,135 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,603.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eric Etchart sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 29th. The shares were 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 owns 31,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,110,281.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.52% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in Graco by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,002,722 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $418,510,000 after purchasing an additional 331,804 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Graco by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 912,730 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $63,636,000 after purchasing an additional 27,545 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Graco by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 804,860 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $56,115,000 after purchasing an additional 17,944 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management raised its position in Graco by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 652,866 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $45,517,000 after purchasing an additional 9,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Graco by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 550,597 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $32,711,000 after acquiring an additional 10,494 shares during the period. 86.47% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Graco from $80.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 9th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Graco to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Graco from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 14th. Five research 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 an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.00.
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 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.