Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research cut shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday,Zacks reports.

GFF has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Griffon from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Robert W. Baird set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.50.

Griffon Stock Up 2.9%

GFF stock opened at $92.36 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75. Griffon has a 1-year low of $65.01 and a 1-year high of $108.57. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56 and a beta of 1.49.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.17. Griffon had a return on equity of 249.31% and a net margin of 8.08%. The firm had revenue of $481.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $457.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 31st. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.45%.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, Director Kevin Sullivan sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.59, for a total value of $369,565.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 40,602 shares in the company, valued at $4,287,165.18. This represents a 7.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.42, for a total transaction of $10,242,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,684,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $172,505,698.74. The trade was a 5.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 169,368 shares of company stock valued at $17,508,936. 10.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter valued at $590,633,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,177,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,781,000 after acquiring an additional 87,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,536,000. Finally, SummitTX Capital L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 415,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,201,000 after acquiring an additional 124,750 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Company Profile

Griffon Corporation is a diversified holding company that primarily operates in the home and building products industry. Through its Clopay Building Products business, the company manufactures and markets residential garage doors, commercial sectional doors, rolling steel doors, security grilles and related access products.

Its products are sold under brands including Clopay, Holmes, Ideal Door, Cornell and Cookson. Griffon serves residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers through distribution networks, dealers, builders and other sales channels in North America and selected international markets.

Griffon has historically operated additional businesses, including the AMES Companies, a manufacturer of lawn and garden tools, and Telephonics Corporation, a defense electronics provider.