DA Davidson Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

DA Davidson reiterated their buy rating on shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a $322.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on 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 Performance

WDFC stock opened at $278.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.53 and a beta of -0.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $263.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.52. WD-40 has a fifty-two week low of $211.03 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its quarterly 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). WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.53% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.88%.

Insider Activity

In other WD-40 news, Director William B. Noble sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.98, for a total transaction of $205,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,312,563.02. This represents a 8.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WD-40

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in WD-40 by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,623,994 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $411,374,000 after purchasing an additional 6,532 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 1.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $134,911,000 after buying an additional 9,418 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $97,524,000 after buying an additional 12,943 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in WD-40 by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 321,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $82,975,000 after acquiring an additional 5,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in WD-40 by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 307,097 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,452,000 after acquiring an additional 5,893 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

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.