Griffon (NYSE:GFF) to Buyback $400.00 million in Outstanding Shares

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Trading Up 18.2 %

Shares of GFF opened at $80.51 on Thursday. Griffon has a 1 year low of $44.03 and a 1 year high of $80.85. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.70. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.50.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 198,571 shares in the company, valued at $13,899,970. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 578,082 shares of company stock valued at $40,777,353. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

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.