WD-40’s (WDFC) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated their buy rating on shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. DA Davidson currently has a $322.00 target price 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 research note on Friday, October 18th.

WD-40 Stock Performance

WD-40 stock opened at $278.66 on Monday. WD-40 has a 52 week low of $211.03 and a 52 week high of $292.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.53 and a beta of -0.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $263.00 and a 200-day moving average of $247.52.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $156.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.88%.

Insider Activity at WD-40

In other WD-40 news, Director William B. Noble sold 800 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.98, for a total value of $205,584.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,999 shares in the company, valued at $2,312,563.02. The trade was a 8.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in WD-40 in the third quarter worth $29,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in WD-40 in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in WD-40 by 57.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in WD-40 in the 2nd quarter worth about $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% 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.