Optimist Retirement Group LLC Has $256,000 Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,592 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GFF. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in Griffon by 5.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 5.0% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 3,913 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,780 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Griffon by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 67,164 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $147,343,410.24. The trade was a 3.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Griffon Trading Up 8.7 %

Griffon stock opened at $80.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.08 and a 200-day moving average of $70.88. The company has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. On average, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 17.02%.

Griffon Company 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.