Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,190,000 shares, a decrease of 10.2% from the March 15th total of 2,440,000 shares. Approximately 4.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 393,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $66.52. 255,854 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 282,692. Griffon has a 1 year low of $25.97 and a 1 year high of $75.18. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.66 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.08.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $643.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $595.87 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Griffon will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 44.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,269,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Griffon

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Griffon by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 17,361 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,058,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Griffon by 65.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Griffon by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Griffon by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,030 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $730,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its position in Griffon by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 28,419 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GFF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd.

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.