GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 332 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 65.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $62,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter worth about $787,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after acquiring an additional 289,208 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $1,830,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Griffon by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $4,206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $6,707,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total transaction of $869,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,368 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,234,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $6,707,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,500,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $64.89 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12 and a beta of 1.33. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $37.33 and a 12 month high of $77.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.80. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.40.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.51. Griffon had a return on equity of 90.02% and a net margin of 7.48%. The company had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.