OP Asset Management Ltd Makes New $1.55 Million Investment in Griffon Corporation $GFF

OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,291 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,547,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Griffon by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 10,299 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Griffon by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Griffon by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 585 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Griffon by 33.0% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 572 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 7,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.02, for a total transaction of $755,965.46. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 790,352 shares in the company, valued at $75,889,599.04. This represents a 0.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.92, for a total transaction of $9,492,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,784,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,365,471.24. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 124,937 shares of company stock valued at $11,874,898 in the last ninety days. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GFF shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Griffon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Griffon from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Griffon in a report on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.00.

Griffon Price Performance

Griffon stock opened at $96.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 741.37 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.77, a current ratio of 2.86 and a quick ratio of 2.43. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.03. Griffon Corporation has a one year low of $65.01 and a one year high of $97.70.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $421.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.63 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 298.42% and a net margin of 0.31%.The company’s revenue was down 31.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 676.92%.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.