Griffon Corporation $GFF Shares Sold by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC significantly reduced its stake in Griffon Corporation by 95.2%, now holding only 5,641 shares valued at $403,000.
• Griffon Corporation will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.18 on September 16, representing an annualized yield of 0.9%.
• Recent analyst reports saw Griffon downgraded from "buy" to "hold" by Wall Street Zen, while Robert W. Baird set a target price increase to $100.00, reflecting mixed sentiment in the market.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC cut its holdings in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 95.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,641 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 112,344 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC's holdings in Griffon were worth $403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,994,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 52.3% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 951,120 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $68,005,000 after acquiring an additional 326,663 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 1st quarter worth $22,108,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 17,994.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 194,337 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $138,950,000 after acquiring an additional 193,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 674,520 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $48,073,000 after buying an additional 159,557 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Griffon Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of GFF opened at $78.31 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.65 billion, a PE ratio of 58.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.15. The company's fifty day moving average is $77.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.55. Griffon Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $60.97 and a fifty-two week high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Griffon had a net margin of 2.78% and a return on equity of 144.21%. The business had revenue of $613.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. Griffon's payout ratio is currently 53.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GFF. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Griffon currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $98.20.

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.

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