Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Acquired by Public Sector Pension Investment Board

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 86,767 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.18% of Griffon worth $6,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Griffon in the first quarter valued at approximately $375,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 659.0% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 26,452 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC grew its position in Griffon by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $319,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter worth about $4,764,000. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 746,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,307,566.66. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $84.30 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.65. The company has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s payout ratio is 17.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GFF. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.25.

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.