Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) COO Sells $84,482.55 in Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total transaction of $84,482.55. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 754,046 shares in the company, valued at $52,866,165.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Griffon Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of GFF stock opened at $68.82 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $66.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16 and a beta of 1.29. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $38.33 and a 1-year high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The firm had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.94 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Griffon by 0.7% during the 1st 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Griffon by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $88,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 486.0% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,834,000 after purchasing an additional 755,773 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,350,000 after purchasing an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,531,000. 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.