Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the four brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $89.25.
GFF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Griffon
NYSE GFF opened at $82.96 on Friday. Griffon has a fifty-two week low of $45.70 and a fifty-two week high of $83.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.18. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.31.
Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Griffon's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon's payout ratio is presently 17.02%.
In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 3,121 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $218,470.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,178,320 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $152,482,400. This represents a 0.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares of the company's stock, valued at $52,307,566.66. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506 over the last 90 days. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.
A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 11,787 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 worth $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $487,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 52.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,372 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 1,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 39.0% during the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 55,356 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,061,000 after acquiring an additional 15,538 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.
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