WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Shares Up 0.3% on Insider Buying Activity

Shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) rose 0.3% on Monday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $233.84 and last traded at $232.83. Approximately 5,235 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 96% from the average daily volume of 125,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $232.09.

Specifically, CEO Steven A. Brass acquired 432 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $232.22 per share, for a total transaction of $100,319.04. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 20,547 shares in the company, valued at $4,771,424.34. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CFO Sara Kathleen Hyzer purchased 213 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $232.83 per share, with a total value of $49,592.79. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at $623,053.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Steven A. Brass acquired 432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $232.22 per share, with a total value of $100,319.04. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 20,547 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,771,424.34. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 973 shares of company stock valued at $226,910 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $313.00 price target on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

WD-40 Trading Up 0.5 %

The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $241.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $244.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 46.57 and a beta of -0.02.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 9th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $139.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $140.51 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 12.19% and a return on equity of 32.30%. WD-40's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.21 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. WD-40's payout ratio is 70.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WD-40

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDFC. APG Asset Management US Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the 4th quarter worth about $38,142,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in WD-40 in the fourth quarter worth about $19,697,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of WD-40 during the first quarter valued at approximately $20,491,000. Comerica Bank purchased a new position in shares of WD-40 during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,223,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of WD-40 by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 55,725 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 18,205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.52% of the company's stock.

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.