Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Issues Earnings Results

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11, Zacks reports. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF traded up $7.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $81.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 227,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,642. Griffon has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $76.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $4,706,853.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,102,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,343,410.24. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746 in the last ninety days. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GFF. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens boosted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

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.