Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Has $39.53 Million Stock Position in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lowered its stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 3.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 519,064 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 16,386 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Griffon were worth $39,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GFF. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 2,273.9% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 14,457 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,101,000 after buying an additional 13,848 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 43.2% during the second quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 42,701 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,090,000 after acquiring an additional 12,890 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 86,500 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,587,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 49.4% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 19,774 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 6,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Griffon by 172.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 78,286 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,962,000 after purchasing an additional 49,585 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GFF. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Griffon in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, CJS Securities raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $103.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.44, for a total transaction of $1,431,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 119,747 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,428,653.68. This trade represents a 11.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,070 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Monday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.15, for a total value of $295,180.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,333,792.80. The trade was a 18.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF opened at $77.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 84.39, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.36, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 2.55. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $83.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.20. Griffon Corporation has a 52 week low of $63.92 and a 52 week high of $97.58.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $649.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.35 million. Griffon had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 228.83%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Research analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 95.65%.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.