Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,070,000 shares, an increase of 21.8% from the September 30th total of 1,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 434,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days. Approximately 5.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,899,970. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares in the company, valued at $13,899,970. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,275,350. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,464 shares of company stock valued at $17,244,450. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 4.4% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,954 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 125.6% during the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 70.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,000 after purchasing an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the third quarter worth about $222,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 6.9% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 23,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 12th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.50.

Griffon Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE GFF traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $63.58. The company had a trading volume of 230,125 shares, compared to its average volume of 428,095. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $66.53 and a 200 day moving average of $66.64. Griffon has a 1-year low of $39.09 and a 1-year high of $77.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 1.29.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 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 company had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.09%.

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.