Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 23.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,204 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,001 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Griffon were worth $372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings in Griffon by 11,460.0% in the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 578 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Griffon by 153.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,644 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Up 2.1%

GFF opened at $79.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $77.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.61. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 59.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.15. Griffon Corporation has a 1 year low of $62.26 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $613.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.95 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%.Griffon’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is 53.73%.

Griffon 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.