Hancock Whitney Corp Invests $320,000 in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Hancock Whitney Corp bought a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,489 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,934 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in Griffon by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 4,977 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 5,500 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $392,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,701 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $406,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GFF. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Griffon in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital upgraded Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stephens lifted their price target on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four 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, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $67.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.74 and a beta of 1.26. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year high of $86.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $70.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.83.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Griffon's payout ratio is 14.69%.

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.

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