By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD – Free Report) by 6,488.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 593 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 584 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $99,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in Woodward by 4.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after purchasing an additional 110,569 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 4.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after acquiring an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 135.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after acquiring an additional 570,124 shares in the last quarter. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the third quarter valued at approximately $99,000,000. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 26.0% during the third quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,383,000 after acquiring an additional 64,212 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
WWD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $197.38.
View Our Latest Stock Report on WWD
Woodward Trading Up 0.6 %
NASDAQ WWD opened at $183.91 on Thursday. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $136.25 and a 12 month high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $182.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $173.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.
Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.76% and a net margin of 11.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Woodward Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.
Insider Activity at Woodward
In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total value of $1,795,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.
About Woodward
Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.
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