Point72 Asset Management L.P. Purchases 202,685 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 473,490 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 202,685 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $33,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 26,452 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 66.7% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,764,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth $7,433,000. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $80.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.02. 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 Co. has a one year low of $49.61 and a one year high of $86.73.

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.