Tribune Investment Group LP Takes $5.36 Million Position in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Key Points

• Tribune Investment Group LP has acquired a new stake in Griffon Corporation, purchasing 75,000 shares valued at approximately $5.36 million, representing 2.3% of its holdings.
• Several other institutional investors, including Voss Capital LP and Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc., have also increased their positions in Griffon, contributing to a 73.22% institutional ownership of the stock.
• Griffon recently reported earnings of $1.50 per share for the last quarter, meeting analysts' expectations, but noted a revenue decline of 5.3% year-over-year.

Tribune Investment Group LP acquired a new position in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 75,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $5,362,000. Griffon makes up approximately 2.3% of Tribune Investment Group LP's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Tribune Investment Group LP owned approximately 0.16% of Griffon at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,720 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S lifted its stake in Griffon by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 14,620 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,042,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 22,809 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,626,000 after purchasing an additional 1,478 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,270 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 10,462 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on GFF shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $98.20.

Griffon Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of GFF stock traded up $1.20 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $76.98. 61,285 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 392,756. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $75.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.38. Griffon Corporation has a 1-year low of $60.97 and a 1-year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%.The company had revenue of $613.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.95 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.73%.

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.