Guidance Capital Inc. Makes New Investment in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Guidance Capital Inc. purchased a new position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,992 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in WD-40 by 3.3% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in WD-40 by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 1,658 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in WD-40 by 41.3% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp raised its stake in WD-40 by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Curbstone Financial Management Corp now owns 5,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,382,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in WD-40 by 23.1% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WD-40 Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WDFC opened at $239.58 on Thursday. WD-40 has a twelve month low of $211.03 and a twelve month high of $292.36. The company has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.90 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.94.

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

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This is a boost from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Insider Transactions at WD-40

In other WD-40 news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total transaction of $289,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,999 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on WDFC. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.