Gabelli Funds LLC Sells 130,700 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Gabelli Funds LLC decreased its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 25.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 378,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 130,700 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned 0.76% of Griffon worth $27,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at about $787,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the first quarter valued at approximately $4,013,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares in the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $1,830,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Griffon by 62.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 18,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF traded up $3.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $74.71. 468,997 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 394,016. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.56 and a 200 day moving average of $66.97. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $38.33 and a one year high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $672.88 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 90.02% and a net margin of 7.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.83%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $6,707,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,500,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total transaction of $869,440.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,368 shares in the company, valued at $3,234,851.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $6,707,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

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.