WD-40 Company $WDFC Shares Bought by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Key Points

• HSBC Holdings PLC boosted its stake in WD-40 Company by 242.2% and now holds a total of $1.62 million in shares, bringing its total to 6,673 shares.
• Several hedge funds significantly increased their positions in WD-40, with GAMMA Investing LLC raising its stake by a remarkable 28,448.0%, now owning 114,192 shares valued at $27.86 million.
• WD-40 has faced a stock price drop of 1.7%, with its recent earnings report showing an EPS of $1.54, which exceeded analyst expectations, albeit falling short on revenue projections.

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) by 242.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,673 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,723 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in WD-40 were worth $1,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WDFC. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $23,556,000. Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of WD-40 by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 11,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,713,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450 shares during the period. Corient IA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of WD-40 by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 80,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $19,690,000 after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 in the first quarter valued at approximately $508,000. 91.52% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of WD-40 from $322.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WD-40 currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $290.00.

WD-40 Price Performance

Shares of WDFC traded down $3.80 on Tuesday, reaching $212.25. The stock had a trading volume of 42,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 144,022. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.02, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $222.33 and a 200 day moving average of $231.39. WD-40 Company has a twelve month low of $208.00 and a twelve month high of $292.36.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.14. WD-40 had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 31.23%. The firm had revenue of $156.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.60 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that WD-40 Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 18th. WD-40's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.21%.

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.