WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 992,200 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the December 31st total of 1,180,000 shares. Currently, 7.3% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 101,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 9.8 days.

Insider Transactions at WD-40

In other 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 value of $289,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,999 shares in the company, valued at $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On WD-40

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in WD-40 by 42.4% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,026 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $4,133,000 after purchasing an additional 4,775 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,462 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $37,512,000 after buying an additional 3,960 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $13,913,000 after buying an additional 10,711 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in WD-40 by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,079 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,052,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in WD-40 by 173.2% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 4,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,059,000 after acquiring an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.52% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on WDFC shares. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

WD-40 Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDFC opened at $234.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 45.01 and a beta of -0.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.44. WD-40 has a 52-week low of $211.03 and a 52-week high of $292.36. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $250.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $257.21.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The company had revenue of $153.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.40 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.28 EPS. WD-40's quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.60%. 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. WD-40's dividend payout ratio is currently 72.03%.

WD-40 Company 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.

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