Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Boosts Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 30.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 170,508 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 39,392 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.29% of Woodward worth $28,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Norges Bank bought a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at $120,220,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,187,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,045,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 3,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.36, for a total value of $641,388.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,008,109.72. The trade was a 17.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,278,157. This trade represents a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,900 shares of company stock worth $5,215,444 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WWD shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

Woodward Stock Down 10.1 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $157.29 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $144.45 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The company has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $184.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the company earned $1.45 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

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.