Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $103.50.

GFF has been the subject of several analyst reports. CJS Securities raised shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Griffon in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird set a $108.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 9th.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 15,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.44, for a total value of $1,431,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 119,747 shares in the company, valued at $11,428,653.68. The trade was a 11.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,070 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total transaction of $295,180.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 13,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,333,792.80. The trade was a 18.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Voss Capital LP grew its position in Griffon by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 1,760,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $129,624,000 after acquiring an additional 225,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,535,473 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $113,088,000 after purchasing an additional 11,169 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,002,513 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $73,835,000 after purchasing an additional 293,278 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its position in Griffon by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 867,195 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $63,869,000 after purchasing an additional 79,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Griffon by 7.7% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 719,046 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,037,000 after buying an additional 51,354 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF stock opened at $87.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $82.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.37, a PEG ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.33. Griffon has a 1 year low of $63.92 and a 1 year high of $97.58.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $649.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $618.35 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 228.83% and a net margin of 1.76%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 95.65%.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.