Legal & General Group Plc Sells 3,287 Shares of Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in Griffon Co. (NYSE:GFF) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,151 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,287 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.24% of Griffon worth $8,136,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GFF. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,325,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Griffon during the fourth quarter worth $21,451,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Griffon by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 892,124 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $63,582,000 after acquiring an additional 236,179 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc purchased a new stake in Griffon in the 4th quarter worth $12,842,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Griffon by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,375,843 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $454,406,000 after purchasing an additional 177,771 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.22% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Turnbull sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.80, for a total value of $242,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 30,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,482,984. This represents a 8.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 10.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GFF. StockNews.com downgraded Griffon from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Griffon from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target (up from $92.00) on shares of Griffon in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Griffon in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $91.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital raised Griffon to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $97.20.

Griffon Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GFF opened at $68.16 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.44. Griffon Co. has a 12-month low of $55.01 and a 12-month high of $86.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.88.

Griffon (NYSE:GFF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The conglomerate reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.28 by $0.11. Griffon had a net margin of 9.13% and a return on equity of 120.61%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Griffon Co. will post 5.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Griffon Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Griffon’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.69%.

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.