Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Boosts Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Griffon in the second quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Griffon in the first quarter valued at $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total value of $63,894.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 746,611 shares in the company, valued at $52,307,566.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,307,566.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 1,205 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.11, for a total transaction of $84,482.55. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 754,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,866,165.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF opened at $63.38 on Friday. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.08 and a fifty-two week high of $77.99. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.50.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. Griffon had a net margin of 7.27% and a return on equity of 96.05%. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th were given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Griffon’s payout ratio is currently 16.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on GFF. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.50.

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.