KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Trims Stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS reduced its position in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,300 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Griffon were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its position in Griffon by 116.1% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Griffon by 72.9% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its position in Griffon by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GFF. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average target price of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE GFF opened at $81.56 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.12. The business’s 50 day moving average is $73.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.72. Griffon Corporation has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.89, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.14.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. Griffon had a return on equity of 114.46% and a net margin of 9.06%. The company had revenue of $611.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $618.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.35 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.91%.

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.