Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Makes New $377,000 Investment in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,382 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $377,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Griffon during the first quarter valued at $557,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Griffon by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 42,934 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Griffon by 62.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after acquiring an additional 18,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 659.0% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after acquiring an additional 26,452 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,899,970. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,275,350. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,899,970. 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 quarter, insiders sold 578,082 shares of company stock worth $40,777,353. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $85.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $80.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $44.03 and a twelve month high of $80.85. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.70.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.09%.

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.