Rock Creek Group LP Lowers Stock Position in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF)

Key Points

• Rock Creek Group LP reduced its holdings in Griffon Corporation by 25%, owning 30,000 shares valued at approximately $2.15 million.
• Griffon Corporation recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18, with an ex-dividend date of August 29th, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.0%.
• Analysts have generally given Griffon Corporation a favorable outlook, with an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Rock Creek Group LP reduced its stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 25.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 10,000 shares during the period. Griffon makes up about 0.2% of Rock Creek Group LP's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Rock Creek Group LP owned about 0.06% of Griffon worth $2,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 116.1% in the fourth quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 376 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 72.9% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 555 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 26.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Griffon by 153.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,718 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 1,644 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Griffon in the fourth quarter valued at $204,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted 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. Wall Street Zen cut Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $100.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Griffon has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GFF traded down $1.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.78. 398,015 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 519,541. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58. Griffon Corporation has a 1 year low of $60.97 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.60. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.31, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.09.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%. The firm had revenue of $613.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Griffon Corporation 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 Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.73%.

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.