ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC Cuts Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC lowered its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,500 shares during the quarter. Griffon comprises 4.9% of ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC owned approximately 0.13% of Griffon worth $4,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GFF. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter worth $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 1,024.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $80.28 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $51.32 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.24. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 1.39. 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 (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of Griffon 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 613,187 shares of company stock valued at $43,614,141. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

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.