Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 14,965 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Verition Fund Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 27.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,774 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 14,965 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Griffon worth $2,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.1% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 86,767 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $6,074,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the third quarter worth approximately $364,000. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new position in Griffon in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $367,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 39,761 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,783,000 after acquiring an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its position in Griffon by 430.9% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 23,897 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 19,396 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 2,260,746 shares of the company's stock, valued at $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Brian G. Harris sold 13,314 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.10, for a total transaction of $880,055.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 199,748 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,203,342.80. This trade represents a 6.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 608,017 shares of company stock valued at $43,198,576 in the last three months. 16.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $81.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 115,177 shares, compared to its average volume of 435,500. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $49.61 and a 1-year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. The company has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21 and a beta of 1.39. The firm's 50-day moving average is $71.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.94.

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

Griffon announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. This is a boost from Griffon's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Griffon's payout ratio is 17.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GFF shares. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average 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.