Insider Buying: WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Director Acquires 328 Shares of Stock

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Director David Pendarvis bought 328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $234.75 per share, for a total transaction of $76,998.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,934 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,158,256.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

WD-40 Price Performance

Shares of WDFC stock traded down $5.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $236.29. 136,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 135,905. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $257.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $240.27. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.15 and a beta of -0.06. WD-40 has a 12 month low of $175.79 and a 12 month high of $278.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 2.27.

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

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,125,850 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $389,520,000 after purchasing an additional 25,648 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,623,323 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $285,283,000 after buying an additional 11,000 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WD-40 by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 671,737 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $119,603,000 after acquiring an additional 5,111 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in WD-40 by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 492,955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $92,996,000 after buying an additional 4,526 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in WD-40 by 27.4% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 328,113 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $60,120,000 after buying an additional 70,598 shares in the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.