Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 89,948 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 120.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 164,555 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 89,948 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.33% of Griffon worth $11,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Quarry LP increased its stake in Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Griffon in the second quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon during the first quarter worth about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GFF shares. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $85.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 12th. Three investment 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $83.50.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF traded up $0.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $64.33. The company had a trading volume of 508,523 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,667. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $66.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.69. The stock has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71, a current ratio of 2.50 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $39.09 and a 12 month high of $77.99.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 96.05% and a net margin of 7.27%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is 16.09%.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,275,350. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,275,350. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,464 shares of company stock valued at $17,244,450 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

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.