Stock Buyback Program Initiated by Graco (NYSE:GGG) Board of Directors

Graco (NYSE:GGG) announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, December 5th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase 15,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the industrial products company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GGG shares. KeyCorp reaffirmed a “sector weight” rating on shares of Graco in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird set a $89.00 target price on Graco in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Graco from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

Graco Price Performance

NYSE:GGG opened at $83.39 on Monday. Graco has a 12 month low of $72.06 and a 12 month high of $91.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $82.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.09.

Graco (NYSE:GGG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The industrial products company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $543.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.07 million. Graco had a net margin of 22.72% and a return on equity of 18.89%. Graco’s quarterly revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Graco will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Graco Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th were paid a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 20th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Graco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.54%.

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.