Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Griffon Trading Up 2.1 %

Griffon stock opened at $82.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $83.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $69.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.18.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Griffon will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 9,222 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total value of $696,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,108,184. This represents a 18.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. This represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP boosted its position in Griffon by 98.7% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Griffon in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Company Profile

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.