Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Given New $84.00 Price Target at Robert W. Baird

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) had its target price lifted by Robert W. Baird from $82.00 to $84.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Raymond James lifted their price target on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $69.50.

Griffon Stock Down 0.0 %

GFF stock opened at $65.24 on Thursday. Griffon has a 52 week low of $25.97 and a 52 week 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 simple moving average of $69.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.68 and a beta of 1.41.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $643.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Griffon will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.15 dividend. 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 0.92%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Griffon by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after purchasing an additional 289,208 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $236,132,000 after buying an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 32.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 221,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,795,000 after buying an additional 54,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Griffon during the third quarter worth $842,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.