Victor Eugene Renuart Sells 4,500 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF stock opened at $84.29 on Friday. The stock 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 moving average price of $70.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.54. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GFF. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Griffon during the 1st quarter worth $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GFF. Stephens raised their price target on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.