Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on GFF. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $70.94 on Thursday. Griffon has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $74.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The company has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.69%.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GFF. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 116.1% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $64,000. 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.