Kevin F. Sullivan Sells 9,222 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 9,222 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total transaction of $696,261.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,108,184. This trade represents a 18.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Griffon Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF traded up $3.25 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $79.34. 644,312 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 438,823. 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 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $80.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $68.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.91.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at $557,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Griffon by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after acquiring an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Griffon by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Griffon by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 18,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Griffon by 659.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 26,452 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GFF. Stephens boosted their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.