Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Brokerages

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the four analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.25.

GFF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 74.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 473,490 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $33,144,000 after acquiring an additional 202,685 shares in the last quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $16,074,000 after purchasing an additional 165,000 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in Griffon by 112.1% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at $7,433,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 120.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,519,000 after buying an additional 89,948 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF traded up $1.68 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.96. 473,410 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 552,673. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company's 50 day moving average price is $69.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.15. Griffon has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $83.76.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Griffon will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This is an increase from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is 17.02%.

About Griffon

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.