Aigen Investment Management LP Has $525,000 Stock Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Aigen Investment Management LP lowered its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 33.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,501 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,726 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP’s holdings in Griffon were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 14.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,014 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 47,724 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 18,256 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in Griffon by 353.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 15,123 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,109,000 after acquiring an additional 11,787 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its position in Griffon by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 18,414 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 5,880 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the first quarter worth about $640,000. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $77.40 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.78. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $44.03 and a 52 week high of $80.85.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 17.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other Griffon news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total transaction of $18,216,389.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 746,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,307,566.66. This trade represents a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 578,082 shares of company stock worth $40,777,353 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.25.

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.