Boston Partners Has $40.43 Million Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 558,118 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 2,552 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 1.17% of Griffon worth $40,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. FMR LLC increased its stake in Griffon by 33.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 76,213 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,335,000 after acquiring an additional 19,291 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its stake in Griffon by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 23,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased 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 acquiring an additional 61,210 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Griffon by 21.4% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 348,907 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $24,423,000 after acquiring an additional 61,399 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Griffon by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 538,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $38,358,000 after acquiring an additional 18,274 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.75.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $71.81 on Thursday. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66 and a beta of 1.40.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.69%.

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.