Axa S.A. Decreases Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

AXA S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 33.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,635 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 4,400 shares during the quarter. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Griffon were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GFF. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Grove Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $64,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 343.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GFF shares. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Griffon in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $91.00 price objective for the company. Loop Capital raised Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Strong Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF stock traded up $4.47 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $72.95. 494,388 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 442,130. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $69.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.10. Griffon Co. has a 12 month low of $55.01 and a 12 month high of $86.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89 and a beta of 1.17.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. Griffon had a return on equity of 120.61% and a net margin of 9.13%. The firm had revenue of $611.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $618.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.91%.

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.