Rhumbline Advisers Grows Position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 0.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,658 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.31% of WD-40 worth $10,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in WD-40 in the 4th quarter worth about $54,571,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 28,448.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 114,192 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,863,000 after acquiring an additional 113,792 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 206.9% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 158,156 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,381,000 after acquiring an additional 106,617 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WD-40 during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,903,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of WD-40 during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,179,000. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Sara Kathleen Hyzer purchased 256 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $222.83 per share, with a total value of $57,044.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $907,363.76. This trade represents a 6.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson upgraded WD-40 to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WDFC stock opened at $243.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.44. WD-40 has a fifty-two week low of $208.00 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $233.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.60 and a beta of 0.17.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $146.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $154.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.97%.

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.