Griffon (NYSE:GFF) COO Robert Mehmel Sells 7,743 Shares of Stock

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) COO Robert Mehmel sold 7,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.62, for a total value of $833,301.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 715,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,979,402.18. This trade represents a 1.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock traded down $1.22 during trading on Friday, reaching $101.18. The company had a trading volume of 175,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,227. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $96.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.79. Griffon Corporation has a one year low of $65.01 and a one year high of $109.00. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81 and a beta of 1.50.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $481.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.70 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 249.31% and a net margin of 8.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Corporation will post 5.40 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GFF. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $125.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Griffon from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Griffon

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GFF. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Griffon during the second quarter worth $590,633,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 18.9% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,781,000 after purchasing an additional 87,100 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 415,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,201,000 after purchasing an additional 124,750 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth $40,177,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 68.1% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 391,441 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,450,000 after purchasing an additional 158,592 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Company Profile

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified manufacturer and holding company that develops, manufactures and distributes products for the home, building and consumer markets. The company operates through its Home and Building Products and Consumer and Professional Products businesses.

Its Home and Building Products operations include garage doors, rolling steel doors, security grilles, shutters and related building products sold under brands such as Clopay, Cornell, Cookson and Wayne Dalton.