Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Shares Purchased by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 336 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Griffon by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $97,420,000 after buying an additional 289,208 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Griffon by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $236,132,000 after buying an additional 77,058 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Griffon by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in Griffon by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 221,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,795,000 after buying an additional 54,400 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 3rd quarter valued at about $842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two research 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average price target of $81.00.

Griffon Stock Down 2.6 %

NYSE GFF opened at $66.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 1.43. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $31.27 and a fifty-two week high of $77.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $62.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.80.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.51. The firm had revenue of $672.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $625.22 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 90.02% and a net margin of 7.48%. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 4.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 15.83%.

About Griffon

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.