Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) Declares $0.26 Quarterly Dividend

Graco Inc. (NYSE:GGG) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 16th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 21st will be given a dividend of 0.255 per share by the industrial products company on Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a $1.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 21st.

Graco has increased its dividend payment by an average of 10.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 28 consecutive years. Graco has a dividend payout ratio of 32.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Graco to earn $3.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.4%.

Graco Stock Up 1.0 %

GGG opened at $83.96 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.81. Graco has a 12-month low of $69.78 and a 12-month high of $94.77.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. Graco had a net margin of 23.16% and a return on equity of 22.40%. The business had revenue of $553.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $562.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Graco’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Graco will post 2.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GGG. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Graco from $99.00 to $96.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Graco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Graco from $87.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Graco from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.80.

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.