Geode Capital Management LLC Has $97.52 Million Stock Position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 378,115 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,943 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.79% of WD-40 worth $97,524,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in WD-40 by 80.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 69,650 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $15,298,000 after purchasing an additional 31,055 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 309.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 37,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,566,000 after buying an additional 28,039 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its position in WD-40 by 27.3% during the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 66,993 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $17,276,000 after buying an additional 14,358 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in WD-40 by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 92,005 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $20,208,000 after acquiring an additional 11,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in WD-40 by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,154 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $134,911,000 after acquiring an additional 9,418 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WDFC. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on WD-40 from $250.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $322.00 target price on shares of WD-40 in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

Insider Activity

In other WD-40 news, Director William B. Noble sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.70, for a total transaction of $289,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,317,310.30. This represents a 11.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WDFC opened at $259.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.47 and a quick ratio of 1.70. WD-40 has a one year low of $211.03 and a one year high of $292.36. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $271.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $254.07. The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.70 and a beta of -0.07.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.34 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $156.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.20 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 31.53%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.21 EPS. Analysts anticipate that WD-40 will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WD-40 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This is a positive change from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.45%. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio is 73.58%.

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.