Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Sold by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA cut its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 234,100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Griffon were worth $16,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during 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 during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 9,222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total value of $696,261.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,108,184. The trade was a 18.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GFF shares. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Griffon Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $82.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $45.70 and a 52 week high of $83.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. 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 14.18%.

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.