Insider Selling: Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Sells 100,000 Shares of Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock traded up $2.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.82. 483,767 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 432,064. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.85 and a 200 day moving average of $67.45. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $38.33 and a 1-year high of $77.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.83%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Griffon by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $88,066,000 after acquiring an additional 19,644 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 486.0% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,834,000 after acquiring an additional 755,773 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 9.6% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 522,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $31,861,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and an average 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.