Hodges Capital Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 52.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 35,200 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. owned 0.06% of Griffon worth $2,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 1.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $236,132,000 after buying an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after buying an additional 289,208 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Griffon by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,354,467 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $82,557,000 after buying an additional 30,710 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 522,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $31,861,000 after buying an additional 2,131 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $63.86 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.74. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 1.33. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $38.33 and a 52-week high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $672.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.22 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.48% and a return on equity of 90.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.