Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Short Interest Up 14.6% in July

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,360,000 shares, an increase of 14.6% from the June 30th total of 2,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 467,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.0 days. Currently, 5.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $73.62 on Wednesday. Griffon has a 12 month low of $38.33 and a 12 month high of $77.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.80, a current ratio of 2.78 and a quick ratio of 1.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.44 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.22.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 90.02%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.21 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total transaction of $869,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,851.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total transaction of $869,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $6,707,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GFF. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at about $214,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,606,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $315,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $1,249,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $313,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several 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 Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

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.