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

Graco (NYSE:GGG) released its quarterly earnings results 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. Graco had a net margin of 23.07% and a return on equity of 24.61%. The company had revenue of $492.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $536.19 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG traded down $6.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.27. 695,281 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 654,423. The company has a market cap of $14.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a one year low of $68.78 and a one year high of $94.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $91.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.82.

Graco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.255 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Graco’s payout ratio is 34.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Graco from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Graco from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Graco

In other news, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 50,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,442,917.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Christian E. Rothe sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.04, for a total transaction of $1,350,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,303,493.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy R. White sold 2,895 shares of Graco stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.49, for a total value of $253,283.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 50,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,442,917.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,378 shares of company stock valued at $4,376,528. Corporate insiders own 2.63% of the company’s stock.

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.