Griffon (NYSE:GFF) Cut to Buy at StockNews.com

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock opened at $62.84 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.86 and a beta of 1.29. Griffon has a 1 year low of $39.09 and a 1 year high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450 in the last three months. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in Griffon during the first quarter worth $557,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,013,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after acquiring an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Griffon by 228.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 62.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 18,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.