Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.18

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.18 per share by the conglomerate on Wednesday, December 18th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Griffon has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Griffon has a dividend payout ratio of 13.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Griffon to earn $6.43 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 11.2%.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $82.96 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $83.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. Griffon’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GFF shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506. Insiders own 16.10% 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.