Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 600 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,200 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Griffon by 1,024.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Griffon by 86.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens lifted their price target on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Stock Up 1.2 %

GFF stock opened at $77.32 on Monday. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. As a group, analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,670 shares of company stock worth $1,038,035. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

About Griffon

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.