Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $69.13. 250,884 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 316,661. Griffon has a twelve month low of $29.11 and a twelve month high of $75.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.59 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.32. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The company had revenue of $643.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Griffon will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after purchasing an additional 289,208 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 10.1% in the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 32.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 221,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,795,000 after purchasing an additional 54,400 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the third quarter worth about $842,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.