Griffon Corporation $GFF Stock Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) by 52.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,974 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 39,483 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned about 0.25% of Griffon worth $10,697,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Griffon during the second quarter valued at approximately $590,633,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Griffon by 18.9% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 547,351 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,781,000 after purchasing an additional 87,100 shares during the period. SummitTX Capital L.P. raised its position in shares of Griffon by 42.9% during the 1st quarter. SummitTX Capital L.P. now owns 415,531 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,201,000 after purchasing an additional 124,750 shares during the period. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,177,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 68.1% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 391,441 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $28,450,000 after buying an additional 158,592 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Griffon Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of GFF opened at $102.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.09 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.75, a current ratio of 2.41 and a quick ratio of 1.79. Griffon Corporation has a 1 year low of $65.01 and a 1 year high of $108.57. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $96.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.49.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.17. Griffon had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 249.31%. The firm had revenue of $481.37 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $457.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.50 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Griffon Corporation will post 5.40 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity at Griffon

In other Griffon news, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 15,928 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.35, for a total transaction of $1,709,870.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 732,911 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,677,995.85. This represents a 2.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.12, for a total transaction of $318,360.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,039 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,187,738.68. This trade represents a 9.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,159 shares of company stock valued at $4,999,841. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Company Profile

Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) is a diversified manufacturer and holding company that develops, manufactures and distributes products for the home, building and consumer markets. The company operates through its Home and Building Products and Consumer and Professional Products businesses.

Its Home and Building Products operations include garage doors, rolling steel doors, security grilles, shutters and related building products sold under brands such as Clopay, Cornell, Cookson and Wayne Dalton.