KBC Group NV Acquires 103 Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

KBC Group NV raised its holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 23.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 548 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 103 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDFC. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of WD-40 by 1.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $134,911,000 after acquiring an additional 9,418 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in WD-40 by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 378,115 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $97,524,000 after purchasing an additional 12,943 shares during the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 321,760 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $82,975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,381 shares during the period. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in WD-40 by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 211,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,574,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,462 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,512,000 after purchasing an additional 3,960 shares during the period. 91.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at WD-40

In other news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total value of $289,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,317,310.30. The trade was a 11.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of WD-40 stock opened at $240.73 on Friday. WD-40 has a 52-week low of $211.03 and a 52-week high of $292.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 46.12 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $247.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $256.94.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $153.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.40 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is a positive change from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. WD-40’s payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

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.