Brokerages Set Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) PT at $97.20

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.20.

GFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens boosted their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $95.00 price target (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

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

Institutional Trading of Griffon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GFF. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth about $64,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Down 0.4 %

Griffon stock traded down $0.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 169,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 442,822. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.78 and a beta of 1.26. Griffon has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $69.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.84.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon's payout ratio is 14.69%.

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.