Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Has $263,000 Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lowered its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 43.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,787 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,964 shares during the period. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL’s holdings in Griffon were worth $263,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Lodge Hill Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 190.3% during the second quarter. Lodge Hill Capital LLC now owns 251,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,074,000 after buying an additional 165,000 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its position in shares of Griffon by 112.1% during the second quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 283,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,123,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter valued at about $7,433,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Griffon by 120.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 164,555 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,519,000 after buying an additional 89,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 94.3% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 128,870 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,230,000 after buying an additional 62,559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,307,566.66. This represents a 0.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $6,226,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,260,746 shares in the company, valued at $140,754,045.96. This trade represents a 4.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 606,742 shares of company stock valued at $42,931,300. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of Griffon stock opened at $73.81 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 1-year low of $44.71 and a 1-year high of $80.85. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $67.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.82.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $641.24 million. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GFF. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.