Amalgamated Bank Trims Stake in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Amalgamated Bank lessened its position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,631 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 323 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Griffon were worth $829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Colonial River Investments LLC lifted its stake in Griffon by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Colonial River Investments LLC now owns 5,733 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 14,120 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 35.1% during the 4th quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 23,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,678,000 after acquiring an additional 6,125 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in Griffon during the 4th quarter valued at $276,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Griffon by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 228,792 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $16,306,000 after acquiring an additional 4,113 shares during the last quarter. 73.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Griffon

In related news, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of Griffon stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total transaction of $242,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares in the company, valued at $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 10.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GFF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens lifted their target price on Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective (up previously from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Loop Capital raised shares of Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.75.

Griffon Trading Down 3.6 %

NYSE GFF opened at $69.71 on Tuesday. Griffon Co. has a one year low of $55.01 and a one year high of $86.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.51. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.23 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.97.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. Equities analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, November 13th that allows the company to buyback $400.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.69%.

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.