WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $6,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in WD-40 by 1.8% during 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 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 worth $97,524,000 after purchasing an additional 12,943 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WD-40 by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 150,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,537,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 129,894 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,932 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 114,033 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,673,000 after purchasing an additional 6,073 shares in the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WDFC opened at $230.67 on Monday. WD-40 has a 1 year low of $211.03 and a 1 year high of $292.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 44.19 and a beta of -0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $252.80.

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

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. WD-40’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a report on Monday, January 27th.

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.