IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Boosts Stake in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its position in WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,881 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in WD-40 were worth $1,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDFC. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of WD-40 by 209.6% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in WD-40 by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 150,557 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,537,000 after purchasing an additional 5,095 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in WD-40 by 115.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of WD-40 in the fourth quarter valued at about $17,903,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of WD-40 by 24.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 53,950 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $13,913,000 after buying an additional 10,711 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.52% of the company’s stock.

WD-40 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WDFC opened at $242.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.45 and a beta of -0.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $236.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $252.22. WD-40 has a 1-year low of $211.03 and a 1-year high of $292.36.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $153.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.40 million. WD-40 had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 31.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WD-40 will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

WD-40 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. WD-40’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $322.00 price objective on shares of WD-40 in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.