Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Grows Stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 14.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 282,837 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,945 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $20,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,575 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 72.9% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 13,232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $946,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at about $364,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $76.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.07. Griffon Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.12.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. Griffon had a return on equity of 114.46% and a net margin of 9.06%. The firm had revenue of $611.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.23 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.35 EPS. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average target price of $98.20.

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.