Analysts Set Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Target Price at $89.25

Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.25.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after purchasing an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 659.0% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,946,000 after buying an additional 26,452 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 125.6% during the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,220,000 after buying an additional 9,701 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 353.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,123 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,109,000 after buying an additional 11,787 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF opened at $84.41 on Friday. Griffon has a 1-year low of $45.70 and a 1-year high of $86.73. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.22. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.18%.

Griffon declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.