Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on GFF. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Stephens restated an overweight rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $68.82 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.31 and a 200-day moving average of $67.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50. Griffon has a fifty-two week low of $38.33 and a fifty-two week high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly 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). Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given 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 0.87%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,275,350. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,275,350. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 232,560 shares of company stock valued at $15,290,160 over the last quarter. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Griffon by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after acquiring an additional 38,707 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Griffon by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after buying an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 486.0% during 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 during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 9.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after acquiring an additional 55,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $20,531,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.