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 Thursday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.50.

Griffon Price Performance

NYSE:GFF traded up $1.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 134,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 422,835. The business’s 50-day moving average is $66.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.59. The company has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50. Griffon has a 52-week low of $42.13 and a 52-week high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,307,566.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total value of $84,482.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 754,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,866,165.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total value of $63,894.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,307,566.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Griffon during the first quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Griffon by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Griffon by 228.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after buying an additional 42,934 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Griffon by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 18,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by 659.0% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 26,452 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.