Xponance Inc. Buys New Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Xponance Inc. purchased a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,944 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GFF. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 343.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of Griffon by 86.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. 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. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $71.99 on Friday. 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 $74.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.63. The company has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.69 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted 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 return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. Research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

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 was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.69%.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Company Profile

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.