Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 9,417 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 224,679 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 9,417 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.47% of Griffon worth $15,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Griffon in the second quarter worth $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 1,024.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 3,121 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $218,470.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,178,320 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,482,400. This represents a 0.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 376,119 shares of company stock worth $27,945,644 over the last three months. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $71.85 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $74.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.04. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.19 EPS. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

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.