Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 218,231 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 9,240 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Griffon were worth $15,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Griffon by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after purchasing an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 9.6% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $40,350,000 after buying an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 7.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Griffon by 112.1% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Griffon by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 270,805 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,294,000 after acquiring an additional 16,740 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 0.9 %

Griffon stock opened at $84.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $45.70 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $69.38 and its 200-day moving average is $67.22. The company has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00 and a beta of 1.31.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The company had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.18%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at $13,203,342.80. The trade was a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 three months, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506. Company 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.