Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Bought by Citigroup Inc.

Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 109.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 33,002 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 0.13% of Griffon worth $4,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GFF. Lodge Hill Capital LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after purchasing an additional 165,000 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 112.1% in the 2nd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,433,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 120.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,519,000 after purchasing an additional 89,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 94.3% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,230,000 after purchasing an additional 62,559 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 9,222 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total value of $696,261.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,108,184. This represents a 18.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GFF shares. Stephens lifted 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. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $82.81 on Wednesday. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $47.83 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66.

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

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 17.02%.

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.