New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Takes Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 416 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $30,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $406,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 1.1% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,780 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 56,520 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,028,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,482,984. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Griffon Stock Down 2.1 %

Griffon stock opened at $68.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year high of $86.73. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 1.26.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (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%. Research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Griffon in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $97.20.

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.