Neuberger Berman Group LLC Purchases Shares of 4,147 Griffon Corporation $GFF

Key Points

• Neuberger Berman Group LLC purchased 4,147 shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF), valued at approximately $297,000, as part of its first-quarter investment strategy.
• The recent analyst ratings for Griffon show a mix, with one downgrade to "hold" but a "strong buy" rating from Raymond James and a price target increase to $100.00.
• Griffon Corporation announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, indicating a yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 53.73%.

Neuberger Berman Group LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,147 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in Griffon by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 59,704 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,255,000 after purchasing an additional 4,251 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,720 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,934 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Griffon by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 192,130 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $13,693,000 after acquiring an additional 30,692 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $705,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GFF shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Friday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.20.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF traded down $0.2250 on Thursday, reaching $71.9050. The company had a trading volume of 65,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 394,246. Griffon Corporation has a 52-week low of $60.97 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.70. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.53. The company has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.09.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Griffon had a net margin of 2.78% and a return on equity of 144.21%. The business had revenue of $613.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $649.95 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Griffon's payout ratio is currently 53.73%.

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.