Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Bought by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 14.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 229,497 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,731 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned 0.47% of Griffon worth $16,065,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Griffon by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after purchasing an additional 38,707 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Griffon by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $88,066,000 after acquiring an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Griffon by 9.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after acquiring an additional 55,100 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Griffon by 112.1% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $18,123,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 270,805 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $17,294,000 after purchasing an additional 16,740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports 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 research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Griffon news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,899,970. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock opened at $79.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $68.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $80.85.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.