Stephens Issues Positive Forecast for Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Stock Price

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) had its price objective boosted by Stephens from $100.00 to $105.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

GFF has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Griffon Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $80.96 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $76.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.95. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. Griffon has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,825.36. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. This trade represents a 11.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GFF. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 1,024.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in Griffon by 22.4% during the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 49,109 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,437,000 after buying an additional 9,000 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 5.0% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 3,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 228.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,184 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 12,653 shares in 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.