Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Griffon were worth $1,194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the 1st quarter valued at about $557,000. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at about $787,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,013,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,903,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $432,954,000 after buying an additional 38,707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,830,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Griffon news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total value of $869,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,851.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Griffon news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.88, for a total value of $869,440.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,234,851.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $6,707,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,500,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $167,725,034.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 125,447 shares of company stock valued at $8,385,495 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Griffon from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.33.

Griffon Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $66.48 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $38.33 and a 52 week high of $77.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 1.29. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $647.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.94 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 90.02% and a net margin of 7.48%. Griffon’s revenue was down 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 28th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 28th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.83%.

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.