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

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GFF. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Griffon Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GFF stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $69.13. The stock had a trading volume of 250,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 316,661. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $69.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.32. Griffon has a 52-week low of $29.11 and a 52-week high of $75.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 51.59 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

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

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 671.1% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rock Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $98,000. Finally, Welch Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the first quarter worth $220,000. 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.