Seth L. Kaplan Sells 4,844 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,899,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Griffon Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $67.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.34. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $38.33 and a 52-week 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.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted 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 net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. The business had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 15.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 270,805 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,294,000 after acquiring an additional 16,740 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position 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 purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 94.3% in the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,230,000 after buying an additional 62,559 shares during the last quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 30,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,916,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LP grew its stake in Griffon by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 36,687 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,343,000 after buying an additional 4,498 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

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.