Griffon’s (GFF) “Strong-Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Raymond James

Griffon (NYSE:GFF)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at Raymond James in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price objective on the conglomerate’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $92.00. Raymond James’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.70% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GFF. Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Griffon Trading Down 0.2 %

Griffon stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $80.72. The stock had a trading volume of 156,744 shares, compared to its average volume of 319,314. Griffon has a twelve month low of $55.01 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 1.43. 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 50-day simple moving average is $76.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.88.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $4,706,853.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,102,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,343,410.24. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746 in the last three months. 10.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. FMR LLC grew its stake in Griffon by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 76,213 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,335,000 after acquiring an additional 19,291 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI grew its stake in Griffon by 125.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 9,701 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $108,914,000 after buying an additional 61,210 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,089,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 348,907 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $24,423,000 after buying an additional 61,399 shares during 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.