Teacher Retirement System of Texas Reduces Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 17.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,445 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 7,684 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.08% of Griffon worth $2,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Griffon by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $108,914,000 after purchasing an additional 61,210 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 877,840 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $61,463,000 after purchasing an additional 30,264 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $43,325,000. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Griffon by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 558,118 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $40,428,000 after buying an additional 2,552 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Griffon by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 538,200 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $38,358,000 after buying an additional 18,274 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Griffon

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of 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 restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock traded down $1.43 on Friday, reaching $70.53. The company's stock had a trading volume of 280,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 425,880. The company has a market capitalization of $3.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $74.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.83. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon's payout ratio is 14.69%.

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.