Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.00.

Several research firms have issued reports on GFF. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Griffon from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research raised shares of Griffon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.92, for a total value of $9,492,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,784,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,365,471.24. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 547 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.37, for a total transaction of $52,167.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 802,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,577,436.87. This represents a 0.07% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 112,338 shares of company stock valued at $10,667,788. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 7,576 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $551,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 341,458 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $24,817,000 after purchasing an additional 17,581 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 164,673 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,968,000 after purchasing an additional 12,642 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 255.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 241,733 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $17,570,000 after purchasing an additional 173,682 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 27.5% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 9,049 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF stock opened at $94.90 on Thursday. Griffon has a 12 month low of $65.01 and a 12 month high of $97.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $88.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $82.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a PE ratio of 730.02 and a beta of 1.42.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $421.86 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $414.63 million. Griffon had a net margin of 0.31% and a return on equity of 298.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.23 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 676.92%.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.