Legato Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Legato Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,879 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,381 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC's holdings in Griffon were worth $989,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in Griffon by 86.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,452 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Griffon by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GFF. StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price target (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Three 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE GFF traded up $0.95 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $77.32. 214,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 302,950. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.51. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.21. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.78 and a beta of 1.43.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. On average, equities analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

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

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the firm'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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % 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, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,670 shares of company stock valued at $1,038,035. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.