Fox Run Management L.L.C. Invests $346,000 in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,850 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its position in shares of 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. Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its holdings in Griffon by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $406,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 1.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $98.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Griffon Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $73.01 on Thursday. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.63. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.40.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.69%.

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.