Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart Sells 2,442 Shares

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 2,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total transaction of $49,841.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,259.36. The trade was a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Victor Eugene Renuart also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 26th, Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00.

Griffon Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $84.29 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.54. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GFF. Quarry LP raised 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 acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Griffon by 56.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GFF. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. 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.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

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.