Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,070,000 shares, a growth of 21.8% from the September 30th total of 1,700,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 434,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Currently, 5.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,203,342.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Griffon news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,275,350. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 0.7% in 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 19,644 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 486.0% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,834,000 after purchasing an additional 755,773 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after purchasing an additional 55,100 shares during the period. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 112.1% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Trading Up 0.3 %

GFF traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $63.58. 230,125 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 428,095. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50. Griffon has a 12 month low of $39.09 and a 12 month high of $77.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05 and a beta of 1.29.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Griffon will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

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.