Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Sells $380,070.00 in Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Griffon Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of GFF traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $84.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 205,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,414. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.54.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business's revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its position in Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter worth $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the first quarter worth $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the second quarter worth $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GFF. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens upped their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three 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.com, Griffon has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.25.

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.

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