Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Increases Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 671.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 640 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Griffon were worth $39,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Griffon by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after buying an additional 289,208 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,316,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of Griffon by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,254,000 after acquiring an additional 97,390 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,817,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 4th quarter valued at $5,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $68.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $69.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.17. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $27.45 and a 52 week high of $75.18. The company has a market cap of $3.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.95 and a beta of 1.41.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The business had revenue of $643.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.78%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,843 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,269,641.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Raymond James lifted their target price on Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

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.