Summit Global Investments Decreases Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Summit Global Investments reduced its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 6.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,522 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,897 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Griffon were worth $1,617,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Griffon by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $97,420,000 after buying an additional 289,208 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Griffon in the 3rd quarter valued at $6,316,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Griffon by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,254,000 after purchasing an additional 97,390 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new stake in Griffon during the 3rd quarter worth $3,817,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $5,606,000. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total value of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 16.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GFF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and an average price target of $69.50.

Griffon Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE GFF traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $69.13. 250,862 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 377,122. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.34 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.11. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $29.11 and a twelve month high of $75.18.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $643.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 44.78%.

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.