New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 6.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,646 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 1,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.15% of WD-40 worth $5,066,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WDFC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in WD-40 by 152.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,689 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in WD-40 by 17.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 14,233 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,605,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in WD-40 by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 11,869 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,007,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in WD-40 during the first quarter valued at approximately $896,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in WD-40 during the 1st quarter worth approximately $305,000. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William B. Noble sold 800 shares of WD-40 stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.98, for a total transaction of $205,584.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,999 shares in the company, valued at $2,312,563.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson boosted their price target 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 boosted their target price on shares of WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

WD-40 Stock Performance

WDFC stock opened at $274.02 on Wednesday. WD-40 has a 1 year low of $211.03 and a 1 year high of $278.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.62 and a beta of -0.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $259.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $244.42.

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

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. WD-40’s payout ratio is 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.