Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Position Boosted by Seven Eight Capital LP

Seven Eight Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 388.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,381 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,954 shares during the period. Seven Eight Capital LP owned about 0.06% of Griffon worth $2,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 1.4% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 486.0% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $66,834,000 after purchasing an additional 755,773 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 9.6% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,350,000 after purchasing an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at $13,203,342.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,275,350. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,203,342.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 151,012 shares of company stock worth $9,603,684. 16.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $67.93 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $66.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.34. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $38.33 and a fifty-two week high of $77.99. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. The firm had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 15.83%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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.