Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $98.20.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GFF shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $91.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Griffon by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,843 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $454,406,000 after purchasing an additional 177,771 shares during the period. Voss Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 10.5% during the first quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 1,332,051 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $95,242,000 after acquiring an additional 127,051 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 52.3% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 951,120 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $68,005,000 after acquiring an additional 326,663 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 892,124 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $63,582,000 after acquiring an additional 236,179 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 4.9% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 828,013 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $59,203,000 after acquiring an additional 38,818 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of GFF traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $67.61. The stock had a trading volume of 342,307 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,206. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.42. Griffon has a twelve month low of $55.01 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.12, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $611.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.23 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 114.46% and a net margin of 9.06%. Griffon's quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Griffon's payout ratio is currently 14.91%.

Griffon Company Profile

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.