Griffon Corporation $GFF Shares Sold by Trexquant Investment LP

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in Griffon Corporation by 16.6%, selling 23,990 shares to hold approximately 0.26% of the company, valued at about $8.6 million.
• Griffon recently reported earnings of $1.50 per share, in line with expectations, but revenue fell short at $613.63 million, down 5.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, which will be paid on September 16th, corresponding to a 0.9% dividend yield.

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its position in shares of Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 120,504 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 23,990 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.26% of Griffon worth $8,616,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Griffon by 43.5% in the 1st quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 5,549 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,683 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Griffon during the first quarter worth about $822,000. Corebridge Financial Inc. raised its stake in Griffon by 2.4% during the first quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 20,568 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Griffon by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 17,564 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,256,000 after purchasing an additional 3,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integras Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,588,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GFF shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded 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 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $98.20.

Griffon Stock Up 3.1%

NYSE:GFF traded up $2.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $79.42. The stock had a trading volume of 72,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,787. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 59.28, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.15. Griffon Corporation has a twelve month low of $60.97 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.41. 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 (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 EPS 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 firm 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 earned $1.24 EPS. Griffon's revenue for the quarter was down 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Announces Dividend

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