Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys Shares of 4,400 WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,400 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $1,068,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in WD-40 by 209.6% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of WD-40 by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 150,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $36,537,000 after buying an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of WD-40 by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 73,061 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $17,730,000 after buying an additional 6,330 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the fourth quarter valued at $17,903,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of WD-40 by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,627,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $395,006,000 after buying an additional 16,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sara Kathleen Hyzer acquired 256 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $222.83 per share, with a total value of $57,044.48. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,072 shares of the company's stock, valued at $907,363.76. This represents a 6.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, DA Davidson upgraded WD-40 to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th.

WD-40 Price Performance

Shares of WDFC traded up $1.71 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $242.81. The stock had a trading volume of 4,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,054. The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.47 and a beta of 0.17. WD-40 has a 12-month low of $208.00 and a 12-month high of $292.36. The company's 50-day moving average is $232.69 and its 200 day moving average is $243.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.68% and a net margin of 11.78%. The business had revenue of $146.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. WD-40's quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 17th. WD-40's payout ratio is 59.97%.

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.