Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) Stock Position Lessened by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System reduced its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,884 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Griffon were worth $907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Griffon by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $97,420,000 after purchasing an additional 289,208 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Griffon by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 529,181 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,254,000 after purchasing an additional 97,390 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its holdings in Griffon by 32.5% during the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 221,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,795,000 after buying an additional 54,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Griffon in the third quarter worth approximately $6,316,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Griffon from $84.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.00.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF opened at $74.27 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.79 and a 200-day moving average of $60.20. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $30.09 and a 1 year high of $77.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.43 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.51. The business had revenue of $672.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $625.22 million. Griffon had a net margin of 2.65% and a return on equity of 72.80%. Griffon’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 44.78%.

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.