WD-40 Company $WDFC Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. cut its holdings in WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 94.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 29,217 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WDFC. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 2.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 38,047 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $8,678,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd grew its position in WD-40 by 246.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 3,220 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 2,290 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new position in WD-40 during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $798,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 2.7% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 13,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,027,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of WD-40 by 27.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 8,237 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,879,000 after buying an additional 1,775 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of WD-40 in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on WD-40 in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WD-40 presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $300.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sara Kathleen Hyzer purchased 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were bought at an average price of $200.46 per share, for a total transaction of $40,092.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 5,935 shares in the company, valued at $1,189,730.10. This represents a 3.49% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Steven A. Brass acquired 362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $200.46 per share, with a total value of $72,566.52. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 33,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,767,730.06. This represents a 1.08% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders bought a total of 2,640 shares of company stock valued at $522,765 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.78% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WDFC stock opened at $187.52 on Tuesday. WD-40 Company has a 52-week low of $186.19 and a 52-week high of $276.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of 28.07 and a beta of 0.16. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $214.22.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.30. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.84% and a net margin of 14.68%.The company had revenue of $163.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $153.90 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. WD-40’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. WD-40 has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.750-6.150 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that WD-40 Company will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, October 20th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 20th. WD-40’s payout ratio is currently 56.29%.

WD-40 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.