Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Has $288,000 Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 9.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,928 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 434 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Griffon by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,254,000 after buying an additional 97,390 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $5,606,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $315,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $6,707,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Griffon news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total value of $869,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,368 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $6,707,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and an average target price of $81.00.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $70.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 1.29. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $38.33 and a twelve month high of $77.99. The company’s fifty day moving average is $66.35 and its 200 day moving average is $66.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.80.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 90.02% and a net margin of 7.48%. The business’s revenue was down 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.83%.

Griffon 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.