91,979 Shares in Griffon Corporation $GFF Bought by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 91,979 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $8,971,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GFF. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter valued at $590,633,000. Voss Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 1,760,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $129,624,000 after buying an additional 225,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Griffon by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,535,473 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $113,088,000 after buying an additional 11,169 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,002,513 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $73,835,000 after buying an additional 293,278 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Griffon by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 867,195 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $63,869,000 after buying an additional 79,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 22,209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.08, for a total value of $2,267,094.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 763,691 shares in the company, valued at $77,957,577.28. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.92, for a total transaction of $9,492,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,784,297 shares in the company, valued at $169,365,471.24. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 298,757 shares of company stock valued at $29,818,460 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GFF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $125.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on Griffon from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $122.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $94.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75. Griffon Corporation has a twelve month low of $65.01 and a twelve month high of $108.57.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $481.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $457.70 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 249.31%. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Corporation will post 5.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.45%.

Griffon Company Profile

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.