Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Sold by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 638,422 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 32,404 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $44,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GFF. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $108,914,000 after buying an additional 61,210 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Griffon by 1.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,379,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $88,066,000 after acquiring an additional 19,644 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Griffon by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 877,840 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $61,463,000 after acquiring an additional 30,264 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Griffon by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 631,851 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,350,000 after purchasing an additional 55,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $36,395,000 after purchasing an additional 34,525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $72.87 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 1.39.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The business had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Stephens boosted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $89.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.97, for a total transaction of $1,874,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 712,914 shares in the company, valued at $53,447,162.58. This trade represents a 3.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 6,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $457,631.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,169,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,006,870.02. This represents a 0.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 372,614 shares of company stock worth $27,700,272 over the last 90 days. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.