Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the four brokerages that are presently 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 updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.50.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GFF shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total transaction of $84,482.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 754,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,866,165.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total transaction of $84,482.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 754,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,866,165.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450 in the last ninety days. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

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

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $63.32 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. Griffon has a 12-month low of $41.08 and a 12-month high of $77.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.59.

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 business had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 16.09%.

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.