Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Position Cut by Guidance Capital Inc.

Guidance Capital Inc. trimmed its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,462 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the quarter. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. abrdn plc acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $12,842,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $659,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Griffon by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,023 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd.

Griffon Price Performance

NYSE GFF opened at $74.50 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $76.14 and its 200-day moving average is $70.81. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The company has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total transaction of $609,659.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 737,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,727,771.40. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total value of $4,706,853.12. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,102,503 shares in the company, valued at $147,343,410.24. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Griffon Company 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.