Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Griffon has an average analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" from six firms (1 sell, 1 hold, 2 buy, 2 strong buy) with an average 12‑month price target of $107.67.
• Corporate insiders sold shares on Feb. 9 (Director James W. Sight sold 3,070 shares at $96.15 and SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 15,000 shares at $95.44), reducing their stakes; insiders now own 10.20% of the company.
• Griffon beat quarterly expectations with $1.45 EPS vs. $1.34 expected and revenue of $649.1M vs. $618.4M, while institutional investors hold 73.22% of the stock and the dividend yield is about 1.1%.

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $107.6667.

A number of research firms have weighed in on GFF. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Griffon from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, March 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,070 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total transaction of $295,180.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,333,792.80. This represents a 18.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.44, for a total transaction of $1,431,600.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 119,747 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,428,653.68. This represents a 11.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GFF. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,002,513 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $73,835,000 after buying an additional 293,278 shares in the last quarter. Voss Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 1,760,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $129,624,000 after purchasing an additional 225,000 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 166.4% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 324,553 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $24,715,000 after purchasing an additional 202,714 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 123,307.7% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 191,282 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $14,565,000 after purchasing an additional 191,127 shares during the period. Finally, Congruence Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at about $11,985,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $78.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.36, a current ratio of 2.55 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.44. Griffon has a 1 year low of $63.92 and a 1 year high of $97.58. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.36.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 228.83%. The firm had revenue of $649.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $618.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is currently 95.65%.

Griffon Company Profile

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.

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