Weiss Asset Management LP Has $3.42 Million Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Weiss Asset Management LP reduced its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 76.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 48,832 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 157,221 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP’s holdings in Griffon were worth $3,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Griffon by 4.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $108,914,000 after buying an additional 61,210 shares during the period. Quarry LP lifted its stake in Griffon by 86.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Griffon by 74.8% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 473,490 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,144,000 after buying an additional 202,685 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its stake in Griffon by 84.5% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 78,498 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,495,000 after buying an additional 35,961 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Griffon by 6.1% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 86,767 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,074,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF opened at $81.40 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $71.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.12. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $49.61 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24 and a beta of 1.39. 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 (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $18,216,389.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,860,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total value of $63,894.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares in the company, valued at $52,307,566.66. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 613,187 shares of company stock worth $43,614,141. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GFF. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. 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, Stephens increased their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Griffon 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.