Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.20.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GFF shares. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Griffon by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,135,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Griffon by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 228,792 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $276,000. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its stake in Griffon by 35.1% in the 4th quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 23,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its stake in Griffon by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 14,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF opened at $67.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.12, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 2.78. Griffon has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.15. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.23 and its 200 day moving average is $72.32.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Griffon had a return on equity of 114.46% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company had revenue of $611.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $618.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Griffon will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.91%.

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.