State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Takes Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 29,837 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.06% of Griffon at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lodge Hill Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 190.3% in the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $16,074,000 after acquiring an additional 165,000 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in Griffon by 112.1% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $18,123,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter valued at $7,433,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 94.3% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,230,000 after buying an additional 62,559 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,860,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $140,207,211.10. This represents a 11.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 50,390 shares in the company, valued at $3,275,350. This represents a 19.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 606,742 shares of company stock valued at $42,931,300 in the last quarter. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GFF shares. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.25.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF opened at $73.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.82. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $44.71 and a 12 month high of $80.85.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This is an increase from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.18%.

Griffon Company 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.