Pacer Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 115.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 460 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $208,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 1.8% during the 3rd 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in WD-40 by 3.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 378,115 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $97,524,000 after purchasing an additional 12,943 shares during the period. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of WD-40 by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 211,624 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,574,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the period. 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 buying an additional 3,960 shares during the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total value of $289,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WDFC stock opened at $239.09 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a PE ratio of 45.80 and a beta of -0.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $248.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $257.07. WD-40 has a 52 week low of $211.03 and a 52 week high of $292.36.

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

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. WD-40’s payout ratio is presently 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.