SG Americas Securities LLC Takes Position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,887 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock, valued at approximately $6,072,000. SG Americas Securities LLC owned 0.18% of WD-40 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 16,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in WD-40 by 2.0% during 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 period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in WD-40 by 1.0% during 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 during the fourth quarter worth approximately $54,571,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 206.9% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 158,156 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $38,381,000 after buying an additional 106,617 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other WD-40 news, CFO Sara Kathleen Hyzer purchased 256 shares of the business'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 acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 4,072 shares of the company's stock, valued at $907,363.76. The trade was a 6.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

WD-40 Price Performance

WDFC stock traded up $2.72 during trading on Monday, hitting $244.23. The company had a trading volume of 308,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,553. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.79 and a beta of 0.17. The business has a 50 day moving average of $234.41 and a 200 day moving average of $239.50. WD-40 has a fifty-two week low of $208.00 and a fifty-two week high of $292.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $146.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $154.40 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that WD-40 will post 5.42 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. WD-40's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.97%.

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.