Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Bought by Barclays PLC

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 161,438 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 32,427 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $11,300,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Quarry LP grew its stake in Griffon by 98.7% in 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 position in Griffon during the second quarter valued at $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the second quarter valued at about $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 1,024.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $78.54 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.68. The company has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.57 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 198,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,899,970. This represents a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 474,622 shares of company stock worth $34,819,512. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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