Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Short Interest Update

Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) was the recipient 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 short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GFF. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the director now owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Griffon

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at about $299,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Griffon by 92.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 50,061 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 24,040 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Griffon by 16.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 19,172 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,745 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 41,892 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $839,000 after acquiring an additional 4,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 54.7% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 26,692 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 9,437 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Down 1.4 %

Griffon stock traded down $0.95 on Monday, hitting $66.64. 285,464 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 388,654. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.73 and a beta of 1.41. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $69.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.89. Griffon has a 1 year low of $25.97 and a 1 year high of $75.18.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $643.20 million during 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 company'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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is presently 44.78%.

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.