State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 541 Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,746 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 541 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.06% of WD-40 worth $1,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,000. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDFC has been the topic of a number of research reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on WD-40 from $303.00 to $322.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William B. Noble sold 800 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.98, for a total value of $205,584.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,312,563.02. This trade represents a 8.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDFC opened at $279.01 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.60 and a beta of -0.08. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.70 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $263.00 and its 200 day moving average is $247.22.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.20 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.53% and a net margin of 11.79%. WD-40’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WD-40 will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.88%.

About WD-40

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.