American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

American Century Companies Inc. lowered its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,329 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,672 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.12% of Griffon worth $3,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter valued at $55,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Griffon by 65.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 842 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. Finally, Sage Rock Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at about $98,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 3,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $222,211.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 750,872 shares in the company, valued at $52,568,548.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 3,174 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total transaction of $222,211.74. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 750,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,568,548.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 20,135 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.01, for a total value of $1,409,651.35. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,195,131 shares in the company, valued at $153,681,121.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 232,560 shares of company stock valued at $15,290,160. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Griffon Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE GFF opened at $69.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $38.33 and a 12-month high of $77.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.35.

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

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.83%.

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.