Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 3,847 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Schroder Investment Management Group lessened its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 54,261 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,847 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Griffon were worth $3,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,843 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $454,406,000 after buying an additional 177,771 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Griffon by 4.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,555,908 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $108,914,000 after acquiring an additional 61,210 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Griffon by 3.6% during the third 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. bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,325,000. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in Griffon by 0.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock opened at $68.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.92 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.95. Griffon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.01 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. 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.