Optimist Retirement Group LLC Has $256,000 Stock Position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,592 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in Griffon were worth $256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. abrdn plc bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,842,000. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $659,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Griffon by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,023 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $215,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Griffon by 43.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,729 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In other news, Director Victor Eugene Renuart sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.46, for a total value of $380,070.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 19,312 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,631,091.52. This trade represents a 18.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO W. Christopher Durborow sold 5,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.38, for a total transaction of $415,564.60. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 44,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,561,316.28. This represents a 10.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 365,170 shares of company stock valued at $27,178,746. Corporate insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Stephens raised their price objective on Griffon from $85.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Griffon Trading Up 8.7 %

GFF opened at $80.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.44, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.74. Griffon Co. has a twelve month low of $55.01 and a twelve month high of $86.73. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.88.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 8.00% and a return on equity of 108.70%. Analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Griffon declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, November 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $400.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the conglomerate to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Griffon Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Griffon’s payout ratio is 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.