Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Acquires 319 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,701 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 319 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,769 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Griffon by 44.2% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 25,871 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,811,000 after buying an additional 7,935 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Griffon by 7.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after buying an additional 34,525 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in Griffon by 5.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 109.6% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 63,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,419,000 after acquiring an additional 33,002 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GFF. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens raised their price target on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $70.94 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 1.40.

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

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,482,984. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

About Griffon

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.