Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Ronald J. Kramer Sells 100,000 Shares

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Griffon Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of Griffon stock traded up $2.02 on Friday, hitting $66.82. The company had a trading volume of 483,767 shares, compared to its average volume of 432,064. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $38.33 and a twelve month high of $77.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.85 and a 200-day moving average of $67.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 1.29.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The firm had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Griffon by 486.0% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,834,000 after acquiring an additional 755,773 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,531,000. Boston Partners acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth about $16,829,000. Lodge Hill Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after purchasing an additional 165,000 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 112.1% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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