Insider Selling: Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Sells 3,660 Shares of Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $279,697.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Griffon Stock Down 4.6 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $73.81 on Monday. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $44.71 and a 1 year high of $80.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.82.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.18%.

Griffon declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GFF. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during 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 position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the first quarter worth about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 equities research analysts recently commented on GFF shares. Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.25.

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.