Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 30,264 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 877,840 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 30,264 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.78% of Griffon worth $61,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 56.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 1,024.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total value of $415,564.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. This trade represents a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $380,070.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 416,383 shares of company stock valued at $30,764,898. Insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Stephens upped their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $89.25.

Griffon Stock Up 1.2 %

GFF traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $72.84. 1,222,110 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 434,944. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.22 and a beta of 1.39. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $73.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.84.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. Griffon's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. This is an increase from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is 17.02%.

Griffon 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.