WD-40 Company $WDFC Stock: Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stake

Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 23,465 shares during the quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $20,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDFC. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 in the second quarter valued at $505,734,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in WD-40 by 41.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 411,312 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $83,883,000 after purchasing an additional 121,358 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in WD-40 by 2.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 294,277 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,015,000 after buying an additional 7,886 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in WD-40 during the second quarter worth $29,162,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in WD-40 by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 74,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,294,000 after buying an additional 10,265 shares during the period. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WDFC shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of WD-40 from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of WD-40 from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 11th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of WD-40 from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, WD-40 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $305.00.

WD-40 Price Performance

WD-40 stock opened at $233.00 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 1.85. The company has a market capitalization of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 35.89 and a beta of 0.27. WD-40 Company has a one year low of $175.38 and a one year high of $298.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $219.71.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 21st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.07). WD-40 had a net margin of 11.97% and a return on equity of 30.84%. The company had revenue of $176.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.56 EPS. WD-40’s quarterly revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that WD-40 Company will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 19th were issued a dividend of $1.02 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 19th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.11%.

Insider Activity at WD-40

In other news, insider Patricia Olsem sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.72, for a total value of $46,944.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 4,574 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,073,609.28. The trade was a 4.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

About WD-40

WD-40 Company develops and markets maintenance, cleaning and homecare products for consumers, professional tradespeople and industrial users. Its best-known product is WD-40 Multi-Use Product, a spray designed to displace moisture, protect metal, loosen rusted parts and lubricate equipment. The company also offers WD-40 Specialist products for specific maintenance applications and the 3-IN-ONE line of lubricants.

The company’s homecare and cleaning portfolio has included brands such as X-14, 2000 Flushes and Carpet Fresh.