Grove Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 467 Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 467 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 1,024.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 779 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus Fund Advisers LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 125.8% during the third quarter. Virtus Fund Advisers LLC now owns 2,143 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 1,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $76.69 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $55.01 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 8,697 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.10, for a total value of $609,659.70. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,102,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,343,410.24. This trade represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746 over the last quarter. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

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.