Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI Increases Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 35.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,125 shares during the quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,678,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Griffon by 1,024.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Griffon in the third quarter valued at about $502,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Griffon by 120.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,519,000 after buying an additional 89,948 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Griffon by 5.9% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 19,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Griffon by 6.9% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 23,333 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,633,000 after buying an additional 1,512 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $75.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $75.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.34. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The company has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.31 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating 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, analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.75.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 12,670 shares of company stock worth $1,038,035. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

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.