Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Increases Dividend to $0.18 Per Share

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 13th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15.

Griffon has raised its dividend payment by an average of 17.9% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Griffon has a dividend payout ratio of 10.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Griffon to earn $5.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 10.5%.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF traded down $3.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $77.30. 252,137 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 431,330. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.70. Griffon has a 1-year low of $44.03 and a 1-year high of $80.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GFF shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stephens boosted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Three equities research 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, Griffon currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.25.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 737,914 shares in the company, valued at $51,727,771.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,860,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 737,914 shares in the company, valued at $51,727,771.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 578,082 shares of company stock worth $40,777,353. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.