Raymond James Financial Inc. Has $19.69 Million Stake in WD-40 Company $WDFC

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its shares in WD-40 Company by 9.4%, owning 80,696 shares valued at approximately $19.69 million after purchasing additional shares in the first quarter.
• WD-40 reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.54, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.40, although revenue for the quarter was slightly below estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.94 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.7% and a dividend payout ratio of 59.21%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,696 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,924 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.60% of WD-40 worth $19,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

WD-40 Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of WDFC traded down $1.66 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $216.04. 90,408 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 90,111. WD-40 Company has a 12-month low of $208.00 and a 12-month high of $292.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $222.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.39. 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 company has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.02 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 company had revenue of $156.92 million during 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that WD-40 Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 18th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. WD-40's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on WD-40 from $322.00 to $300.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $290.00.

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.