Principal Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stake in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) by 28.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,397 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 32,636 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.60% of WD-40 worth $19,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in WD-40 by 1.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 385,779 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $93,638,000 after purchasing an additional 7,664 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 227,661 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $55,249,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 in the 4th quarter valued at $54,571,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 206.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 158,156 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $38,381,000 after purchasing an additional 106,617 shares during the last quarter. 91.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WD-40 stock opened at $224.90 on Friday. WD-40 Company has a 52 week low of $208.00 and a 52 week high of $292.36. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $238.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $235.97. The firm has a market cap of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.87 and a beta of 0.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.40 by $0.14. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.55% and a net margin of 13.99%. The business had revenue of $156.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that WD-40 Company will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. WD-40's payout ratio is 59.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.

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