Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Loop Capital

Loop Capital upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. 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, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Finally, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Stock Up 1.2 %

GFF stock opened at $77.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $75.50 and a 200-day moving average of $71.19. Griffon has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.69%.

Griffon declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 sale, 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 21,892 shares of company stock valued at $1,734,296 over the last 90 days. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 343.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.