Maven Securities LTD Makes New Investment in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Maven Securities LTD bought a new position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,021 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $518,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth $99,000,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,735,000 after acquiring an additional 210,746 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Woodward by 17,072.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 76,760 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,165,000 after acquiring an additional 76,313 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Woodward by 13.3% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after purchasing an additional 74,734 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP lifted its stake in shares of Woodward by 26.0% in the 3rd quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,383,000 after purchasing an additional 64,212 shares during the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $226.00 price objective (up previously from $187.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.44.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $183.84 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $170.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.12 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $10.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.38.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.64%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total transaction of $1,776,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,044,929.15. This trade represents a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,913 shares of company stock valued at $8,502,604. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Company Profile

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.