Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,273 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $956,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in Griffon by 37.5% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 5,243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in Griffon during the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 141.4% in the 3rd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 782 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 52.3% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 114,974 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 39,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. raised its holdings in Griffon by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 26,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,431,000 after purchasing an additional 5,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Robert Mehmel sold 7,743 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.62, for a total value of $833,301.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 715,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,979,402.18. This represents a 1.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Griffon from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $125.00 price target on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Griffon from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.50.

Griffon Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of GFF traded up $0.34 on Friday, reaching $105.18. The stock had a trading volume of 276,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,156. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.32. Griffon Corporation has a 12-month low of $65.01 and a 12-month high of $109.00.

About Griffon

Griffon Corporation is a diversified management and holding company whose businesses make products for homes, buildings, gardens and outdoor spaces. Its operations are organized into Home and Building Products and Consumer and Professional Products. The Home and Building Products segment includes Clopay, which makes residential and commercial garage doors, and CornellCookson, which produces rolling steel doors and security grilles. The Consumer and Professional Products segment sells lawn and garden tools, landscaping products and home organization products through brands including AMES, True Temper and ClosetMaid.