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

Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings 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 target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.50.

GFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF opened at $63.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.29. Griffon has a twelve month low of $39.09 and a twelve month high of $77.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.66.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 16.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 Griffon stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,464 shares of company stock valued at $17,244,450 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Griffon by 486.0% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,834,000 after buying an additional 755,773 shares in the last quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC increased its holdings in Griffon by 190.3% in the second quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after buying an additional 165,000 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its holdings in Griffon by 112.1% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $7,433,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 120.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,519,000 after purchasing an additional 89,948 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.