Cynosure Group LLC Invests $367,000 in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Cynosure Group LLC bought a new stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,239 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $367,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP increased its position in Griffon by 98.7% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 386 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Griffon during the 1st quarter worth $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Griffon during the 2nd quarter worth $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Griffon by 56.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GFF shares. Stephens upped their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com raised Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $279,697.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,825.36. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ronald J. Kramer sold 241,757 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.35, for a total value of $18,216,389.95. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,860,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $140,207,211.10. The trade was a 11.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 603,517 shares of company stock valued at $42,818,506. Corporate insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

Shares of GFF stock opened at $83.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.43. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.74 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $45.70 and a 12-month high of $86.73.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 13th. The conglomerate reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.29. Griffon had a return on equity of 108.70% and a net margin of 8.00%. The firm had revenue of $659.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $641.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.19 earnings per share. Griffon’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.57 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 17.02%.

Griffon announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to repurchase $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the conglomerate to repurchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.