Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 45.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 11,673 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GFF. Lodge Hill Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 190.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after buying an additional 165,000 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ increased its stake in Griffon by 112.1% in the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter valued at about $7,433,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Griffon by 120.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,519,000 after purchasing an additional 89,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 94.3% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,230,000 after purchasing an additional 62,559 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $6,226,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,260,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $140,754,045.96. This represents a 4.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total value of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 199,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506 in the last ninety days. 16.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Griffon Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GFF stock opened at $83.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $45.70 and a 1-year high of $86.73. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.71 and a 200 day moving average of $67.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

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. The company had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.19 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

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.