KBC Group NV Has $123,000 Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

KBC Group NV increased its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 43.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Griffon were worth $123,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $108,914,000 after purchasing an additional 61,210 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 877,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $61,463,000 after acquiring an additional 30,264 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 473,490 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $33,144,000 after buying an additional 202,685 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in Griffon by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 348,907 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $24,423,000 after buying an additional 61,399 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Griffon Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $79.00 on Friday. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.93 and its 200-day moving average is $71.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 18.68 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. Equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.69%.

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

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 368,170 shares of company stock worth $27,421,146. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.