Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the December 15th total of 2,240,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 429,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days. Currently, 6.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon 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 transaction, the director now owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Griffon by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 140,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,978,000 after buying an additional 8,900 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 224,679 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,728,000 after buying an additional 9,417 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,296 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,876,000 after buying an additional 1,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 13,389 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $76.69. 321,982 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,268. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.92. Griffon has a 12 month low of $55.01 and a 12 month high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Griffon’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.