Neuberger Berman Group LLC Buys New Shares in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF)

Neuberger Berman Group LLC bought a new stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 4,147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $297,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in Griffon by 116.1% during the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Griffon by 72.9% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in Griffon by 26.1% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $143,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Griffon by 153.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $194,000 after buying an additional 1,644 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GFF. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.20.

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock opened at $72.78 on Friday. Griffon Corporation has a 12 month low of $60.97 and a 12 month high of $86.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $75.13 and its 200-day moving average is $72.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.31, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.09.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%. The company had revenue of $613.63 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.73%.

Griffon 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.