Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 13.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,891 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 6,675 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Griffon worth $3,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Voss Capital LP raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 13.7% in the third quarter. Voss Capital LP now owns 1,535,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $116,890,000 after buying an additional 185,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 396.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,088 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,867,000 after buying an additional 52,786 shares during the period. MHR Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the third quarter worth approximately $9,519,000. Moran Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 97.4% in the fourth quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,258 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,849,000 after buying an additional 25,790 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 6.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 427,674 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,567,000 after buying an additional 25,681 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GFF. Zacks Research upgraded Griffon from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $115.00 price objective on Griffon in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Griffon from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Griffon has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.00.

Griffon Trading Down 0.6%

GFF opened at $94.17 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.85. The company has a market capitalization of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 724.46 and a beta of 1.42. Griffon Corporation has a 52 week low of $65.01 and a 52 week high of $97.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.43, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.77.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.06. Griffon had a return on equity of 298.42% and a net margin of 0.31%.The company had revenue of $421.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.63 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.23 EPS. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was down 31.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Griffon Corporation will post 5.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is presently 676.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Griffon

In other news, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.92, for a total value of $9,492,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,784,297 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,365,471.24. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 5,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.18, for a total value of $523,585.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 809,788 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,075,621.84. The trade was a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 108,773 shares of company stock valued at $10,327,734. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified management and holding company whose subsidiaries design, manufacture and market products for residential, commercial and defense applications. Operating through three primary platforms—Home & Building Products, Defense Electronics and Specialty Industrial—Griffon’s portfolio spans consumer and industrial brands with a focus on long-lived products and recurring aftermarket opportunities.

In the Home & Building Products segment, Griffon’s Clopay Building Products division is a leading North American manufacturer of residential and commercial garage doors, specializing in steel, fiberglass and composite designs as well as decorative carriage-house styles.