Jane Street Group LLC Buys 61,399 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Jane Street Group LLC boosted its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 21.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 348,907 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 61,399 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC owned about 0.71% of Griffon worth $24,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP raised its position in Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in Griffon during the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Griffon by 1,024.8% during 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 during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 613,187 shares of company stock worth $43,614,141 in the last 90 days. 16.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock traded down $0.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $80.08. The company had a trading volume of 423,914 shares, compared to its average volume of 434,455. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $51.32 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The firm has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.78 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $72.10 and a 200-day moving average of $68.24. 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 (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.18 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

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

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.