1,703 Shares in WD-40 Company $WDFC Acquired by Magnetar Financial LLC

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 stake in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of WD-40 in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in WD-40 by 96.1% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 149 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in WD-40 by 210.6% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 146 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in WD-40 by 82.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 157 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in WD-40 by 420.0% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

WD-40 Stock Up 0.7%

WDFC stock traded up $1.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $218.08. 69,030 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 84,386. The firm's 50 day moving average is $221.19 and its 200 day moving average is $230.95. WD-40 Company has a twelve month low of $208.00 and a twelve month high of $292.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 2.02 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 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.40 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $156.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.60 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.23% and a net margin of 14.13%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that WD-40 Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 18th were given a dividend of $0.94 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. WD-40's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.