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

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the December 31st total of 2,240,000 shares. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 429,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.7 days.

Griffon Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $75.81 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 1.43. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $70.74.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Griffon will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 1,024.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% 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.