WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Shares Sold by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 66 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $343,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of WDFC. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of WD-40 by 309.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $9,566,000 after acquiring an additional 28,039 shares during the period. DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of WD-40 by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 66,993 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,276,000 after purchasing an additional 14,358 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 during the 4th quarter worth about $3,217,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 worth $97,524,000 after purchasing an additional 12,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of WD-40 by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,711 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

WD-40 Stock Up 0.7 %

WDFC opened at $242.21 on Friday. WD-40 has a twelve month low of $211.03 and a twelve month high of $292.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $235.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $254.00. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 46.40 and a beta of -0.05.

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

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors 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 1.55%. 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 dividend 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.