Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Purchases 450 Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $669,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WDFC. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in WD-40 by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $97,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 24.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,913,000 after purchasing an additional 10,711 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 365.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 4,841 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 3,801 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 1,881 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of WD-40 by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,243 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of WDFC opened at $237.04 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 45.41 and a beta of -0.05. WD-40 has a 12-month low of $211.03 and a 12-month high of $292.36.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last released its 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.40 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This is an increase from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WDFC. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $322.00 price target on shares of WD-40 in a report on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.