Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Monday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $69.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $66.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.35. Griffon has a twelve month low of $38.33 and a twelve month high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Griffon will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total value of $84,482.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 754,046 shares in the company, valued at $52,866,165.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 232,560 shares of company stock worth $15,290,160. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GFF. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in Griffon by 486.0% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,834,000 after purchasing an additional 755,773 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at about $20,531,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC grew its position in Griffon by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,074,000 after acquiring an additional 165,000 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Griffon by 112.1% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,433,000. 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.