Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $1.01 Million Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,462 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GFF. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Quarry LP grew its position in Griffon by 86.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Griffon by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Griffon by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFF has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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, Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $98.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at $3,561,316.28. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of GFF opened at $71.48 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $74.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.70.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. As a group, research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 14.69%.

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.