WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) Increases Dividend to $0.94 Per Share

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of 0.94 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This is an increase from WD-40’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

WD-40 has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.5% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 17 years. WD-40 has a payout ratio of 62.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect WD-40 to earn $6.04 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 62.3%.

WD-40 Stock Performance

Shares of WDFC stock opened at $227.38 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $262.84 and its 200 day moving average is $256.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.50 and a beta of -0.04. WD-40 has a 12 month low of $211.03 and a 12 month high of $292.36. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $153.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.40 million. WD-40 had a return on equity of 31.53% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that WD-40 will post 5.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at WD-40

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.