Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Friday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on GFF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Stephens increased their target price on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Griffon Trading Down 3.4%

GFF stock opened at $68.51 on Friday. Griffon has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.03.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. The business had revenue of $611.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.23 million. During the same period in the prior 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 anticipate that Griffon will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.05%. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 14.91%.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 202 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 72.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.