UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Sells 7,979 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC decreased its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,283 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 7,979 shares during the quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Griffon worth $4,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in Griffon by 98.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at about $70,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Griffon by 56.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Griffon by 1,024.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Down 0.7 %

GFF traded down $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $78.47. 221,522 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 432,483. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $72.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.48. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $54.74 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a current ratio of 2.66 and a quick ratio of 1.44.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The company'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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current year.

Griffon declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a positive change from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 9,892 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.69, for a total value of $659,697.48. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 787,914 shares in the company, valued at $52,545,984.66. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 44,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. The trade was a 10.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 484,765 shares of company stock valued at $35,496,152 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $89.25.

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.