Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Purchases New Position in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Key Points

• Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired 65,466 shares of Griffon Corporation in Q1, amounting to approximately $4.68 million, increasing their stake to 0.14% of the company.
• Several hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC with a $22.1 million stake, have significantly adjusted their positions in Griffon, leading to institutional investors owning 73.22% of the company's stock.
• Griffon reported $1.50 EPS in their most recent quarter, matching analysts' estimates but with a revenue decline of 5.3% year-over-year.

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 65,466 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $4,681,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.14% of Griffon as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,934 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 116.1% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 72.9% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 3,894 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $278,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Griffon stock traded up $3.5520 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.8220. The company had a trading volume of 82,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,762. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58. Griffon Corporation has a 52 week low of $60.97 and a 52 week high of $86.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $75.31 and a 200-day moving average of $72.51. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.66, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Griffon Announces Dividend

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

Griffon Company 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.