California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 89,636 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,236 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $21,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WDFC. Pacer Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in WD-40 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in WD-40 by 100.0% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in WD-40 by 122.3% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 738 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $176,000 after purchasing an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in WD-40 in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 during the third quarter worth $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $313.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

WD-40 Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:WDFC opened at $225.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.56. WD-40 has a 1 year low of $181.38 and a 1 year high of $278.78. The company has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.01 and a beta of -0.06. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $249.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $242.94.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.01. WD-40 had a return on equity of 32.30% and a net margin of 12.19%. The company had revenue of $139.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.51 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.21 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Jeffrey G. Lindeman bought 182 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $272.42 per share, with a total value of $49,580.44. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 3,073 shares in the company, valued at $837,146.66. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, VP Jeffrey G. Lindeman bought 182 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $272.42 per share, with a total value of $49,580.44. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 3,073 shares in the company, valued at $837,146.66. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Steven A. Brass bought 432 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $232.22 per share, for a total transaction of $100,319.04. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 20,547 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,771,424.34. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 942 shares of company stock worth $226,897. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Company 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.