Royce & Associates LP Purchases 145,517 Shares of WD-40 Company $WDFC

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 739.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 165,187 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 145,517 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 1.22% of WD-40 worth $32,525,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDFC. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 4.6% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 20,621 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,032,000 after acquiring an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 7.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,366 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 8,096 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,975,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 6.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,578 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $385,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 476.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 3,086 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WDFC has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on WD-40 from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. William Blair initiated coverage on WD-40 in a report on Monday, April 6th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $270.00.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WD-40 stock opened at $207.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $211.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $212.53. WD-40 Company has a 12-month low of $175.38 and a 12-month high of $253.24. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. WD-40 had a return on equity of 30.23% and a net margin of 12.57%.The business had revenue of $161.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $154.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. WD-40’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WD-40 Company will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 17th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is 69.39%.

WD-40 Company Profile

WD-40 Company, headquartered in San Diego, California, is best known for its flagship WD-40® Multi-Use Product, a water-displacing spray used for lubrication, rust prevention and cleaning. Since its introduction in 1953 by the Rocket Chemical Company, the WD-40 brand has become a household and industrial staple. Over time, the company has broadened its portfolio to include complementary maintenance and cleaning brands such as 3-IN-ONE® oils, Lava® hand cleaners, Solvol® solvents, Spot Shot® stain removers and X-14® cleaning products.

WD-40 Company distributes its products in more than 176 countries through retail, industrial and automotive channels.