Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Griffon Corporation by 1.5%, selling 94,070 shares, and now holds approximately 13.07% of the company valued at $449 million.
• Griffon Corporation's recent earnings report revealed a quarterly EPS of $1.50, matching analyst expectations, although revenue decreased by 5.3% year-over-year.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, with an annualized dividend yield of 1.0%, payable on September 16th to shareholders of record.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its stake in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,281,773 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 94,070 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 13.07% of Griffon worth $449,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Griffon by 4.9% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 828,013 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $59,203,000 after purchasing an additional 38,818 shares during the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $53,994,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 674,520 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $48,073,000 after acquiring an additional 159,557 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 95,382.7% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 624,457 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $44,505,000 after acquiring an additional 623,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 448,464 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $31,962,000 after acquiring an additional 44,166 shares in the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Stock Performance

GFF traded down $0.8180 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $73.2020. The stock had a trading volume of 158,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 395,241. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $75.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.52. Griffon Corporation has a 1 year low of $60.97 and a 1 year high of $86.73. The stock has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 54.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.09. 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 (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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The business had revenue of $613.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $649.95 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

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 1.0%. Griffon's dividend payout ratio is 53.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GFF. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $98.20.

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.