Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the four ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $81.50.

A number of analysts have commented on GFF shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday.

Griffon Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $68.17 on Friday. Griffon has a one year low of $38.33 and a one year high of $77.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 1.29.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The firm had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Griffon will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 3,121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $218,470.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,178,320 shares in the company, valued at $152,482,400. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 253,020 shares of company stock worth $16,722,924 over the last three months. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GFF. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 65.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

About Griffon

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.