Magnetar Financial LLC Buys Shares of 1,703 WD-40 Company $WDFC

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC has invested $416,000 in WD-40 Company, acquiring 1,703 shares during the first quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for WD-40, with a target price set at $290.00.
• WD-40 reported earnings of $1.54 per share, exceeding expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.94 with a yield of 1.7%.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in WD-40 by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 1,048 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 597 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in shares of WD-40 by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 895 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in WD-40 by 5.4% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,037 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in WD-40 by 3.9% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 1,482 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. 91.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of WD-40 from $322.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, WD-40 currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $290.00.

WD-40 Stock Performance

NASDAQ WDFC traded up $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $218.08. The company had a trading volume of 69,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 84,532. 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 market cap of $2.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34 and a beta of 0.13. WD-40 Company has a fifty-two week low of $208.00 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $230.94.

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

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 18th were issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. WD-40's payout ratio is 59.21%.

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.