Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Sets New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $100.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Griffon traded as high as $81.20 and last traded at $81.14, with a volume of 19578 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $79.37.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GFF. Stephens lifted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were 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 trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in 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 own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 1.31. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $68.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.00.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.18%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.