Amalgamated Bank Acquires 499 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 11,954 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Griffon were worth $837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GFF. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its position in shares of Griffon by 125.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 70.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 779 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC bought a new stake in Griffon during the third quarter worth $222,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its stake in Griffon by 6.9% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 23,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Griffon by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.25.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 15,108 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.98, for a total value of $1,011,933.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 797,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,437,045.88. The trade was a 1.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 578,082 shares of company stock worth $40,777,353. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $77.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.31. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $44.03 and a 52 week high of $80.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.78.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.