Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Begins Coverage on Griffon (NYSE:GFF)

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Griffon (NYSE:GFF) in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $91.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GFF. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $73.02 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon has a 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.92.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. Equities analysts forecast that Griffon will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 95,382.7% in the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,457 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,505,000 after purchasing an additional 623,803 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at $43,325,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at $21,451,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Griffon by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 892,124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $63,582,000 after buying an additional 236,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 473,490 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $33,144,000 after acquiring an additional 202,685 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.