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

Shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $115.00.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GFF. Wall Street Zen raised Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Griffon from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Stephens lifted their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Zacks Research raised Griffon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on Griffon in a report on Friday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.0% in the first quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 16,432 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. SEB Asset Management AB bought a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter worth approximately $21,070,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Griffon by 68.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 391,441 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,450,000 after purchasing an additional 158,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Griffon by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 3,959 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $83.35 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 641.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $79.91 and its 200-day moving average is $79.30. Griffon has a 52-week low of $65.01 and a 52-week high of $97.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.77, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $421.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.63 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 298.42% and a net margin of 0.31%.The firm’s revenue was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Griffon will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 676.92%.

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.