Ronald J. Kramer Sells 67,164 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $4,706,853.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,102,503 shares in the company, valued at $147,343,410.24. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF stock opened at $77.40 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.78. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $44.03 and a twelve month high of $80.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Griffon by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Griffon by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after buying an additional 19,644 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Griffon by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,350,000 after buying an additional 55,100 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Griffon by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of Griffon by 112.1% during the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $18,123,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on GFF shares. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Stephens increased their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.25.

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.