Barclays PLC Grows Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Barclays PLC raised its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 25.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,427 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.34% of Griffon worth $11,300,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter valued at $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the second quarter worth about $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 1,024.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 39,247 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.03, for a total value of $2,748,467.41. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,221,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $155,571,574.97. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 474,622 shares of company stock valued at $34,819,512. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $78.54 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.57 and a beta of 1.39. 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 (NYSE:GFF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. Griffon’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens upped their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.