Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Sells 300 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund cut its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,293 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Griffon were worth $662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Creative Planning bought a new position in Griffon during the third quarter worth about $502,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its holdings in Griffon by 6.9% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 23,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in Griffon by 70.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its holdings in Griffon by 125.6% during the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,220,000 after acquiring an additional 9,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Griffon by 4.4% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,954 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $837,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Price Performance

NYSE:GFF opened at $72.25 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.93. The company has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.75 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.69%.

Griffon announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Insider Activity at Griffon

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

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.