Bridgewater Associates LP Has $906,000 Holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Bridgewater Associates LP lessened its holdings in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) by 61.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,515 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 5,722 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP's holdings in WD-40 were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WDFC. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in WD-40 in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in WD-40 in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in WD-40 by 41.3% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in WD-40 in the second quarter valued at about $67,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of WD-40 by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WDFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $322.00 price target on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $2,317,310.30. The trade was a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WD-40 Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of WD-40 stock traded down $0.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $276.77. The stock had a trading volume of 228,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 105,982. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $267.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $250.66. WD-40 has a 52 week low of $211.03 and a 52 week high of $292.36. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.23 and a beta of -0.07. 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 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.53% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.20 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. WD-40's dividend payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

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.