Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Price Target Raised to $100.00 at Robert W. Baird

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) had its price objective hoisted by Robert W. Baird from $92.00 to $100.00 in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on GFF. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $82.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.31. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.18. Griffon has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $83.76.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 17.02%.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,899,970. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. This represents a 4.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Griffon by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,780 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after buying an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Griffon by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 877,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $61,463,000 after buying an additional 30,264 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 161,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,300,000 after acquiring an additional 32,427 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in Griffon by 79.6% during the third quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 12,658 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 5,609 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Griffon by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 16,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after buying an additional 1,739 shares during the last quarter. 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.