Rafferty Asset Management LLC Invests $822,000 in Griffon Corporation $GFF

Rafferty Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,498 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $822,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 7,270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $518,000 after acquiring an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 10,462 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Griffon by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 448,464 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $31,962,000 after acquiring an additional 44,166 shares during the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Griffon in the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Griffon by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 86,937 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,196,000 after purchasing an additional 8,707 shares during the period. 73.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Griffon Price Performance

GFF stock opened at $76.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $76.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.36. Griffon Corporation has a 12-month low of $60.97 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 22.58. The company has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 56.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.15.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The conglomerate reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Griffon had a return on equity of 144.21% and a net margin of 2.78%.The firm had revenue of $613.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Griffon Corporation will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Griffon’s payout ratio is 53.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GFF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective (up previously from $95.00) on shares of Griffon in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Griffon from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Griffon from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.20.

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.