Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Lowers Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB trimmed its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,703 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 150 shares during the quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB’s holdings in Woodward were worth $2,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. PEAK6 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Woodward during the third quarter valued at $2,448,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in Woodward by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 64,153 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,917 shares during the last quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 3rd quarter worth $1,698,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,275,000. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.99, for a total transaction of $1,799,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,071,864.89. This represents a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 40,313 shares of company stock worth $7,230,572. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WWD. UBS Group lifted their target price on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Up 0.5 %

Woodward stock opened at $195.22 on Monday. Woodward, Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.82 and a twelve month high of $201.64. The business has a fifty day moving average of $179.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $170.82. The firm has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.57%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 16.75%.

Woodward 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.