Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock Position Lifted by Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC lifted its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 247,892 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,395 shares during the period. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned about 0.52% of Griffon worth $17,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 2.9% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 44,769 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 44.2% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 25,871 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,811,000 after acquiring an additional 7,935 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Griffon by 7.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 519,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,395,000 after acquiring an additional 34,525 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in Griffon by 5.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,487 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 109.6% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 63,122 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,419,000 after purchasing an additional 33,002 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GFF shares. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Griffon has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.75.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF opened at $74.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.32 and its 200-day moving average is $72.63. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,482,984. The trade was a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 10.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Griffon

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.