Lazard Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Lazard Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Free Report) by 89.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 692 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 5,659 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in WD-40 were worth $167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 150,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $36,537,000 after acquiring an additional 5,095 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 73,061 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $17,730,000 after acquiring an additional 6,330 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WD-40 in the 4th quarter valued at $17,903,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 16,763 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at WD-40

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

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WD-40 stock traded up $1.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $241.00. The company's stock had a trading volume of 53,219 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,357. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $233.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 46.17 and a beta of 0.17. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $146.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $154.40 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. WD-40's revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that WD-40 will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 18th were paid a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.56%. WD-40's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.