Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart Sells 2,617 Shares

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 2,617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.79, for a total value of $70,109.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,579 shares in the company, valued at $658,471.41. The trade was a 9.62 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

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 Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $84.29 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.54. 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 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $659.70 million for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GFF. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.25.

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.