State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Invests $2.09 Million in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 29,837 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,089,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Griffon by 98.7% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 777 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in Griffon in the 2nd quarter valued at $55,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Griffon in the first quarter valued at about $65,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Griffon during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 56.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,133 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE:GFF opened at $73.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 and a beta of 1.31. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $44.71 and a one year high of $80.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.82.

Griffon announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, November 13th that permits the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the conglomerate to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Griffon Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be given a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is a positive change from Griffon’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 12,447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $809,055.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 50,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,275,350. The trade was a 19.81 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director James W. Sight sold 3,660 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.42, for a total transaction of $279,697.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,708 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,825.36. The trade was a 17.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 606,742 shares of company stock worth $42,931,300. 16.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens raised their target price on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Griffon from $84.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $87.25.

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.