Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Thursday.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GFF. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Griffon presently has an average rating of Strong Buy and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF stock traded up $0.93 during trading on Thursday, hitting $70.06. The company had a trading volume of 42,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 373,232. The firm has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 51.59 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon has a 1-year low of $29.11 and a 1-year high of $75.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.59.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The company had revenue of $643.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $595.87 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Griffon will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 44.78%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total value of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $97,420,000 after purchasing an additional 289,208 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Griffon by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,354,467 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $82,557,000 after acquiring an additional 30,710 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Griffon by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,254,000 after acquiring an additional 97,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 522,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,861,000 after buying an additional 2,131 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.