Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 94,009 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $9,169,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC owned 0.21% of Griffon as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Griffon in the first quarter worth $1,265,000. SummitTX Capital L.P. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 42.9% in the first quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 415,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,201,000 after buying an additional 124,750 shares in the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at $1,547,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 29.0% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 44,910 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,264,000 after buying an additional 10,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 77.2% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 117,092 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,510,000 after buying an additional 51,004 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GFF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Griffon from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Stephens boosted their target price 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. Robert W. Baird set a $125.00 target price on shares of Griffon in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Griffon presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $122.50.

Griffon Price Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $101.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75. The firm has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.87 and a beta of 1.44. Griffon Corporation has a 12 month low of $65.01 and a 12 month high of $108.57.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $481.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $457.70 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 249.31% and a net margin of 8.08%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.50 EPS. Research analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.41 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 31st will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 31st. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.45%.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 22,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.08, for a total transaction of $2,267,094.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 763,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,957,577.28. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $169,365,471.24. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 298,757 shares of company stock worth $29,818,460 over the last 90 days. 10.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Griffon Company Profile

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.