Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the four research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $89.25.

GFF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens raised their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd.

Griffon Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $84.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.65. Griffon has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides consumer and professional, and home and building products in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Home and Building Products, and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment manufactures and markets residential and commercial sectional garage doors, rolling steel service doors, fire doors, shutters, steel security grilles, and room dividers for the use in commercial construction and repair, and home remodeling applications.