Millennium Management LLC Increases Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF - Free Report) by 31.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 674,520 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 159,557 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 1.42% of Griffon worth $48,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GFF. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI increased its holdings in Griffon by 35.1% in the fourth quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 23,551 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,678,000 after buying an additional 6,125 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Griffon during the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,451,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Griffon by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 538,200 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $38,358,000 after acquiring an additional 18,274 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Griffon by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 224,679 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $15,728,000 after purchasing an additional 9,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Griffon by 57.0% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 27,247 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 9,896 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.22% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GFF. Raymond James reissued a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Friday, May 9th. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Griffon to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Griffon from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Strong Buy" and a consensus price target of $98.20.

Griffon Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:GFF traded down $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $67.86. The stock had a trading volume of 61,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 440,201. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's fifty day moving average is $70.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a current ratio of 2.51 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The conglomerate reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $611.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $618.23 million. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Griffon's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.91%.

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.