Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Sells 9,240 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 218,231 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 9,240 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P owned about 0.44% of Griffon worth $15,276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GFF. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the first quarter worth $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Three 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 an average price target of $89.25.

Griffon Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:GFF traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $83.57. The company had a trading volume of 340,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,122. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75 and a beta of 1.31. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $69.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.32. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $45.70 and a twelve month high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The business's revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. 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 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the conglomerate to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Seth L. Kaplan sold 4,844 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $339,080.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 198,571 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,899,970. This trade represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. The trade was a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506 over the last three months. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.