ClearAlpha Technologies LP Sells 1,122 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

ClearAlpha Technologies LP cut its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 20.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,289 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,122 shares during the quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP’s holdings in Griffon were worth $300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lodge Hill Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,074,000 after acquiring an additional 165,000 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 112.1% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,433,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 120.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,519,000 after buying an additional 89,948 shares during the period. Finally, Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 94.3% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,230,000 after acquiring an additional 62,559 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Griffon news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. This represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $82.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $47.83 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.62.

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

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GFF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. 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, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

Griffon 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.