Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Sells $958,710.70 in Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 13,690 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total transaction of $958,710.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,181,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,766,313.23. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Griffon Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:GFF traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $69.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 282,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 437,849. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.34. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $38.33 and a 1 year high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 15.83%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 1st quarter worth approximately $557,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in Griffon in the first quarter valued at $4,013,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 38,707 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth $1,830,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 228.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

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.