Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird raised their price target on the stock from $92.00 to $100.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Griffon traded as high as $81.20 and last traded at $81.14, with a volume of 19578 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $79.37.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stephens raised their price target on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at $13,203,342.80. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was 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 approximately $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506 over the last ninety days. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.36 and a 200 day moving average of $67.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.18%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.