Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Griffon has increased its dividend by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Griffon has a payout ratio of 10.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Griffon to earn $6.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 9.2%.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $77.40 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.78. Griffon has a twelve month low of $44.03 and a twelve month high of $80.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,207,211.10. This represents a 11.50 % 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, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 737,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,727,771.40. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 578,082 shares of company stock valued at $40,777,353. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.25.

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.