Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) COO Sells $882,583.17 in Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 12,943 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.19, for a total transaction of $882,583.17. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 762,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,023,105.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF stock opened at $67.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.36. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $38.33 and a fifty-two week high of $77.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 5.3% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 4,011 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 0.5% during the first quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 39,526 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,899,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 1.3% during the second quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 17,753 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Griffon by 2.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,562 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Griffon by 3.0% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 11,074 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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.