Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 1.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Griffon were worth $907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Griffon by 22.1% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $97,420,000 after acquiring an additional 289,208 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Griffon during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,316,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,479,000. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth $9,403,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Griffon by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,254,000 after acquiring an additional 97,390 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $74.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.43 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $30.09 and a 52-week high of $77.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $69.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.20.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.51. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The firm had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GFF shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James increased their price target on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

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.