Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Declares $0.15 Quarterly Dividend

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 8th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the conglomerate on Thursday, June 20th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%.

Griffon has raised its dividend by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Griffon has a payout ratio of 10.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Griffon to earn $5.60 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 10.7%.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock traded up $6.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.81. 293,655 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 373,972. Griffon has a twelve month low of $29.78 and a twelve month high of $77.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 54.96 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.46.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Griffon will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,269,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James upped their price objective on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.50.

Griffon Company 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.