ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC Sells 10,000 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC lessened its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 20.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 40,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Griffon makes up 3.8% of ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC owned about 0.08% of Griffon worth $2,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its position in Griffon by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $64,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 343.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,091 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in Griffon during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $136,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GFF has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon currently has an average rating of "Strong Buy" and an average price target of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of GFF traded down $2.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $67.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 266,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 436,787. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.15. The business has a fifty day moving average of $69.40 and a 200 day moving average of $72.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon Co. has a 1 year low of $55.01 and a 1 year high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $618.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is currently 14.91%.

Griffon Profile

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.