Public Sector Pension Investment Board Acquires 3,444 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 81,767 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,444 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Griffon were worth $5,222,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $432,954,000 after purchasing an additional 38,707 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after buying an additional 19,644 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Griffon by 486.0% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 911,295 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $66,834,000 after buying an additional 755,773 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Griffon by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after buying an additional 55,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $20,531,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GFF has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Griffon Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of GFF opened at $68.82 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The business has a fifty day moving average of $66.31 and a 200 day moving average of $67.34. The company has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.16 and a beta of 1.29. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $38.33 and a 52-week high of $77.99.

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

Griffon Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Griffon news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,203,342.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,899,970. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 232,560 shares of company stock valued at $15,290,160. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

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.