Natixis Advisors L.P. Reduces Stock Position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Natixis Advisors L.P. decreased its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,392 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,417 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. owned about 0.63% of WD-40 worth $20,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDFC. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of WD-40 during the third quarter valued at approximately $261,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 3,205 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 1.6% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 38,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $7,832,000 after purchasing an additional 603 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 0.9% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 21,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,419,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of WD-40 by 13.2% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,807 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $570,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WD-40 news, CEO Steven A. Brass purchased 432 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $232.22 per share, with a total value of $100,319.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 20,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,771,424.34. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Steven A. Brass bought 432 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $232.22 per share, for a total transaction of $100,319.04. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 20,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,771,424.34. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Jeffrey G. Lindeman purchased 182 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $272.42 per share, with a total value of $49,580.44. Following the acquisition, the vice president now owns 3,073 shares in the company, valued at $837,146.66. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 942 shares of company stock worth $226,897 over the last ninety days. 0.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $313.00 price objective on shares of WD-40 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th.

WD-40 Trading Down 0.3 %

WDFC stock opened at $230.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.91 and a beta of -0.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $245.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $243.79. WD-40 has a 52 week low of $182.53 and a 52 week high of $278.78.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $139.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.51 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 32.30% and a net margin of 12.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.22 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.26%.

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.