Oppenheimer analyst Bryan Blair maintained a Hold rating on Graco (NYSE: GGG) today. The company’s shares opened today at $40.96.
Blair said:
“GGG reported adj. 3Q18 EPS of $0.50, ahead of our/consensus $0.47/0.46E as Industrial and Process results (revenue and margin outperformance) more than offset a slight miss in Contractor. Given strong YTD core growth (+8%, including +7% in 3Q) and positive incoming order rates across segments, GGG maintained its outlook for +M/HSD ’18 organic sales with growth across geographies (EMEA remaining a watch item, in our view, with weak EM demand pressuring Industrial and Contactor trends in the region). Favorable near-term core growth will be partly offset by FX and inflation headwinds (tariffs driving ~50-75bps 4Q GM impact, potential ~100bps ’19 pressure), with cycle concerns (construction and auto comprising ~60% of GGG sales) tempering our intermediate-term outlook on the highest-ROIC name under coverage. Maintain Perform.”
According to TipRanks.com, Blair is currently ranked with no stars on a 0-5 star ranking scale, with an average return of -10.8% and a 6.3% success rate. Blair covers the Industrial Goods sector, focusing on stocks such as Lincoln Electric Holdings, Watts Water Technologies, and Carlisle Companies Inc.
Graco has an analyst consensus of Hold, with a price target consensus of $46.67, which is a 13.9% upside from current levels. In a report issued on October 26, RBC Capital also maintained a Hold rating on the stock with a $46 price target.
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Graco’s market cap is currently $6.73B and has a P/E ratio of 23.11. The company has a Price to Book ratio of 8.45.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 27 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. Most recently, in August 2018, Caroline Chambers, the EVP of GGG sold 97,500 shares for a total of $4,592,250.
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Graco, Inc. designs, manufactures and markets premium equipment to pump, meter, mix and dispense a wide variety of fluids and coatings. It operates through the following segments: Industrial, Contractor and Process. The Industrial segment includes the Applied Fluid Technologies division, Industrial Products division and Process division.
