Grove Bank & Trust Buys New Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Grove Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 467 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 228.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 61,704 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,954,000 after acquiring an additional 42,934 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 33.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 76,213 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,335,000 after purchasing an additional 19,291 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 125.6% in the third quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 17,426 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,220,000 after purchasing an additional 9,701 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $108,914,000 after buying an additional 61,210 shares during the period. Finally, Barington Capital Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 50.0% during the second quarter. Barington Capital Group L.P. now owns 30,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after buying an additional 10,000 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. This represents a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 365,170 shares of company stock worth $27,178,746. 16.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF opened at $76.69 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $76.51 and its 200-day moving average is $70.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for 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. The firm’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $89.25.

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.