Ieq Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,866 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Griffon by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 228,792 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $16,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,053 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 3,948 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,592 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,842,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GFF. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens increased their price target on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price objective (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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, Griffon currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $98.75.

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Griffon Stock Down 0.5 %

GFF stock traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $69.38. 276,596 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 329,538. The company has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $55.01 and a 1-year high of $86.73. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $74.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.97.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.69%.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes 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 stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Griffon

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.