Guidance Capital Inc. Trims Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Guidance Capital Inc. cut its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 18.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,462 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,415 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Griffon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 1,024.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 86.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF opened at $74.50 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $76.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.81. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase 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 yield of 0.97%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $4,706,853.12. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,102,503 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,343,410.24. This represents a 3.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total value of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. This trade represents a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird increased 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 upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens boosted their price target on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

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.