Quest Partners LLC Has $136,000 Holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Quest Partners LLC decreased its position in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,945 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 6,679 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Griffon in the 1st quarter valued at about $65,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Griffon during the first quarter valued at approximately $375,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Griffon by 659.0% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,946,000 after buying an additional 26,452 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC raised its position in Griffon by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Griffon during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,764,000. 73.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, Director Kevin F. Sullivan sold 9,222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.50, for a total value of $696,261.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,108,184. This trade represents a 18.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Robert F. Mehmel sold 912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.06, for a total transaction of $63,894.72. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 746,611 shares in the company, valued at $52,307,566.66. The trade was a 0.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 603,517 shares of company stock worth $42,818,506. 16.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE GFF opened at $83.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a current ratio of 2.66. Griffon Co. has a 52-week low of $45.70 and a 52-week high of $86.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.43.

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

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

Griffon Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is an increase 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 is presently 17.02%.

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.