XTX Topco Ltd Buys New Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 9,885 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Griffon by 343.5% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,482,984. This trade represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens raised their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $97.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $68.16 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $71.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.89. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.26.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 14.69%.

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.