Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) to Issue $0.18 Quarterly Dividend

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 5th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the conglomerate on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%.

Griffon has increased its dividend by an average of 24.1% annually over the last three years. Griffon has a payout ratio of 11.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Griffon to earn $6.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.3%.

Griffon Stock Up 8.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $80.80 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.88. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly 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 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Griffon will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,825.36. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GFF. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Griffon declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.