Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Has $1.01 Million Stock Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 11.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,462 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 86.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Griffon by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Griffon by 70.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 779 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GFF. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF stock opened at $71.48 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $74.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.70. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon 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.