Gallacher Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 4,401 Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Gallacher Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,401 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFF. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Griffon by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,598,353 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $97,420,000 after purchasing an additional 289,208 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Griffon by 1.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,952,411 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $236,132,000 after purchasing an additional 77,058 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Griffon by 10.1% during the third quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 32,801 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Griffon by 32.5% in the third quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 221,700 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,795,000 after purchasing an additional 54,400 shares during the period. Finally, Graham Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Griffon in the third quarter valued at $842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Griffon

In related news, Director James W. Sight sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.38, for a total transaction of $134,760.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,843 shares in the company, valued at $1,269,641.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 16.10% of the company’s stock.

Griffon Stock Performance

NYSE:GFF traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $69.81. 168,941 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 374,017. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.99 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.02. Griffon Co. has a 52 week low of $29.11 and a 52 week high of $75.18.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The conglomerate reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $643.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $595.87 million. Griffon had a return on equity of 72.80% and a net margin of 2.65%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Griffon Co. will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.78%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GFF. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Griffon from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Griffon from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Griffon from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.50.

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.