Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 34,525 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 519,926 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 34,525 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.06% of Griffon worth $36,395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 659.0% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 26,452 shares during the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 66.7% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter worth $4,764,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter worth $214,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter worth $7,433,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GFF. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on shares of 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $89.25.

Griffon Stock Up 0.2 %

Griffon stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $82.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 205,856 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,041. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 1.39. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $47.83 and a 12 month high of $86.73. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $70.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.72. 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 (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This is a boost from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to repurchase $400.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other Griffon news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $339,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 198,571 shares in the company, valued at $13,899,970. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total transaction of $380,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 608,017 shares of company stock worth $43,198,576. 16.10% of the stock is owned by 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.