Empowered Funds LLC Purchases Shares of 1,407 WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $341,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WDFC. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 42.4% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,026 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,133,000 after buying an additional 4,775 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WD-40 by 2.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,462 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,512,000 after acquiring an additional 3,960 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 115.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $208,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 24.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,913,000 after acquiring an additional 10,711 shares during the period. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 during the fourth quarter worth about $464,000. 91.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WD-40 Stock Performance

WDFC opened at $230.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.24 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $238.93 and a 200 day moving average of $254.87. WD-40 has a fifty-two week low of $211.03 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WD-40 will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is 72.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 price target on shares of WD-40 in a report on Monday, January 27th.

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.