WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Director Sells $289,700.00 in Stock

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,317,310.30. This trade represents 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 this link.

WD-40 Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of WDFC traded down $5.71 during trading on Thursday, reaching $280.38. 91,735 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 106,614. WD-40 has a twelve month low of $211.03 and a twelve month high of $292.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 55.10 and a beta of -0.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $262.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $246.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $149.20 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 31.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that WD-40 will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. WD-40’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WD-40

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WDFC. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 during the first quarter worth $20,491,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in WD-40 by 80.5% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 69,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,298,000 after acquiring an additional 31,055 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in WD-40 in the first quarter valued at $4,180,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in WD-40 by 83.6% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 26,226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,642,000 after acquiring an additional 11,939 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in WD-40 in the third quarter valued at $1,960,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WDFC. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of WD-40 from $303.00 to $322.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

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.