Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 89,948 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 120.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,948 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $11,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $557,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,013,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after purchasing an additional 38,707 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 228.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,954,000 after buying an additional 42,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 62.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after buying an additional 18,256 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 12th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $83.50.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,275,350. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 6,532 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $457,631.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,169,667 shares in the company, valued at $152,006,870.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,464 shares of company stock worth $17,244,450. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $63.46 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.72. The company has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $38.39 and a twelve month high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $647.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 16.09%.

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.