Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stake Decreased by Point72 DIFC Ltd

Point72 DIFC Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,605 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,039 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd’s holdings in Griffon were worth $462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Griffon by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 473,490 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $33,144,000 after purchasing an additional 202,685 shares in the last quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $16,074,000 after acquiring an additional 165,000 shares in the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Griffon during the second quarter valued at about $7,433,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Griffon by 120.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,631,091.52. The trade was a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares in the company, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 613,187 shares of company stock worth $43,614,141 over the last quarter. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Griffon Stock Up 0.9 %

Griffon stock opened at $81.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $49.61 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.89 and a 200-day moving average of $68.12.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program 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 programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.25.

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.