Griffon Co. (GFF) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 25th

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the conglomerate on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th.

Griffon has raised its dividend payment by an average of 24.1% annually over the last three years. Griffon has a dividend payout ratio of 10.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Griffon to earn $6.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.2%.

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock opened at $72.63 on Friday. Griffon has a 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. On average, research analysts forecast that Griffon will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GFF. StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens increased their target price on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,670 shares of company stock worth $1,038,035 in the last ninety days. 10.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Griffon declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management 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.