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 company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $279,697.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF traded down $3.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $73.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 569,853 shares, compared to its average volume of 436,113. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $44.71 and a one year high of $80.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.78.

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 given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.18%.

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

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Griffon by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after acquiring an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $108,914,000 after buying an additional 61,210 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after buying an additional 19,644 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,350,000 after buying an additional 55,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.25.

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.