What Happened?
Shares of multi-industry consumer and professional products manufacturer Griffon Corporation (NYSE: GFF) jumped 4% in the afternoon session after an analyst at Baird maintained an "Outperform" rating on the company and raised the price target to $100 from $92.
The new price target represented an 8.7% increase and implied a potential upside of over 24% from the stock's previous closing price. The analyst's report highlighted a favorable view of the diversified management and holding company amid current market conditions. The move also came as reports showed increased institutional interest in the stock. For example, a recent filing revealed that Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by over 95% during the first quarter. Other investment firms, including Gallacher Capital Management LLC, also initiated new positions in the company.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $81.20, up 4.2% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Griffon’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 11 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 6 months ago when the stock gained 10.7% on the news that the company reported fourth-quarter financial results, which blew past analysts' EBITDA and EPS expectations.
On the other hand, its revenue slightly missed, as modest improvements in the Home and Building Products (HBP) segment were offset by weaker demand in Consumer and Professional Products (CPP), particularly in North America and the UK. Overall, this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations.
Griffon is up 12.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $81.20 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $85.16 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Griffon’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $4,095.
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