WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Position Lifted by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 115.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in WD-40 by 9.0% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 2,966 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $652,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in WD-40 by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,209 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of WD-40 by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,420 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 4,513 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,619 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,673,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of WD-40 by 81.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 4,578 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 2,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on WDFC shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 price objective on shares of WD-40 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

WD-40 Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of WD-40 stock opened at $239.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.80 and a beta of -0.05. WD-40 has a twelve month low of $211.03 and a twelve month high of $292.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.07.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $153.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $147.40 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that WD-40 will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a $0.94 dividend. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is 72.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at WD-40

In related news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total transaction of $289,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,999 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,310.30. The trade was a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About WD-40

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.