Teacher Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,445 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,684 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.08% of Griffon worth $2,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,325,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased 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 worth $33,144,000 after purchasing an additional 202,685 shares during the period. abrdn plc purchased a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $12,842,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the third quarter valued at approximately $9,800,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in Griffon by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 348,907 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $24,423,000 after purchasing an additional 61,399 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE GFF opened at $73.01 on Thursday. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $74.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.40.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GFF. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Stephens boosted 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, Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

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.