Everence Capital Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 3,880 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 931.0% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,165 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,052 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming increased its stake in Griffon by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,290 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in Griffon by 64.5% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,754 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its stake in Griffon by 116.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,373 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF opened at $65.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 2.46. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $25.97 and a 52-week high of $75.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 48.68 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.19.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The firm had revenue of $643.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.78%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James lifted their price target on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.50.

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.