Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Short Interest Up 9.8% in January

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.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their position. 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

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its holdings in Griffon by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 23,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,678,000 after buying an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter worth about $276,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Griffon by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 228,792 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of Griffon by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its position in Griffon by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 773 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GFF has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $73.95 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.77. Griffon has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 earnings per share. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Griffon will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

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.