Vanguard Group Inc. Has $937.74 Million Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,634,773 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 18,899 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.49% of Woodward worth $937,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter worth $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in Woodward by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $183.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $144.45 and a 12-month high of $201.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WWD shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $197.38.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.50, for a total transaction of $1,845,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,855,506.50. This represents a 39.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 over the last three months. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.