Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stake Lowered by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS trimmed its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,474 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 266 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Griffon were worth $604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Griffon by 343.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 86.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 1.9 %

Griffon stock opened at $73.01 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.63. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $55.01 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a PE ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. Equities research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders 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 presently 14.69%.

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.