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

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 9.8% from the December 15th total of 2,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 429,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 6.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price 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. Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Insider Activity at Griffon

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GFF. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter worth $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Griffon by 56.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:GFF traded up $0.91 on Monday, hitting $76.69. The stock had a trading volume of 321,982 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,268. 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 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.38 and its 200 day moving average is $69.92. The company has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The business had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Griffon’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Griffon will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

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.