Victor Eugene Renuart Sells 2,442 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 2,442 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.41, for a total transaction of $49,841.22. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 30,096 shares in the company, valued at $614,259.36. This trade represents a 7.51 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Victor Eugene Renuart also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, November 26th, Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00.

Griffon Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Griffon stock traded up $0.79 during trading on Friday, reaching $84.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 205,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 439,414. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $70.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The company had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at $65,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter worth $375,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 659.0% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 26,452 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth $4,764,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on GFF shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

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.