Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.18 Per Share

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Griffon has raised its dividend by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Griffon has a dividend payout ratio of 10.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Griffon to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.5%.

Griffon Trading Down 4.0 %

GFF traded down $3.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $77.30. 252,137 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 431,330. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $67.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.70. Griffon has a 1-year low of $44.03 and a 1-year high of $80.85. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on GFF shares. Stephens boosted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 737,914 shares in the company, valued at $51,727,771.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 737,914 shares in the company, valued at $51,727,771.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 578,082 shares of company stock worth $40,777,353 over the last 90 days. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.