Sanctuary Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,881 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of WD-40 by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $134,911,000 after acquiring an additional 9,418 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of WD-40 by 3.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 378,115 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $97,524,000 after purchasing an additional 12,943 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 1.7% during the third quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 321,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,381 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 307,097 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,452,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of WD-40 by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 211,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,574,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total transaction of $289,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

WD-40 Stock Up 1.2 %

WD-40 stock opened at $247.82 on Thursday. WD-40 has a 12 month low of $211.03 and a 12 month high of $292.36. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $254.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.50 and a beta of -0.07.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.20 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.53% and a net margin of 11.79%. WD-40’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Equities analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.52%. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a report on Monday, November 18th.

WD-40 Profile

WD-40 Company develops and sells maintenance products, and homecare and cleaning products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides multi-purpose maintenance products that include aerosol sprays, non-aerosol trigger sprays, precision pens, and in liquid-bulk form products under the WD-40 Multi-Use brand name; specialty maintenance products, such as penetrants, degreasers, corrosion inhibitors, greases, lubricants, and rust removers under the WD-40 Specialist brand; and bike-specific products.