Van ECK Associates Corp Invests $3.22 Million in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 13,258 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,217,000. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.10% of WD-40 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in WD-40 by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 28.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 393 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in WD-40 by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 28.6% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 445 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its position in WD-40 by 77.9% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 475 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $122,000 after buying an additional 208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $322.00 price objective on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

WD-40 Price Performance

NASDAQ WDFC opened at $232.93 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. WD-40 has a 1 year low of $211.03 and a 1 year high of $292.36. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 44.62 and a beta of -0.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $239.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $255.04.

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

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. WD-40’s payout ratio is 72.03%.

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.