Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 4,775 Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 42.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,026 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,775 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in WD-40 were worth $4,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WDFC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in WD-40 by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,623,994 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $411,374,000 after acquiring an additional 6,532 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 2nd quarter worth $547,000. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 173.2% in the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 4,820 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,059,000 after purchasing an additional 3,056 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in WD-40 by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 4,079 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in WD-40 by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 307,097 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,452,000 after purchasing an additional 5,893 shares in the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WD-40 Stock Up 2.1 %

WDFC opened at $283.95 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $265.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.57 and a beta of -0.08. WD-40 has a fifty-two week low of $211.03 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.47.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $149.20 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. WD-40’s payout ratio is currently 68.88%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 price objective on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Activity at WD-40

In other WD-40 news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total value of $289,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.