Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart Sells 4,500 Shares of Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $84.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $70.30 and a 200-day moving average of $67.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 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 analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.25.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in Griffon by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $108,914,000 after acquiring an additional 61,210 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Griffon by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $88,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,644 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Griffon by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 877,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $61,463,000 after purchasing an additional 30,264 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 9.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after buying an additional 55,100 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 7.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.