Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Decreases Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lessened its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,890 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 380 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Woodward were worth $4,309,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,355 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $225,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 401 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Delta Capital Management LLC now owns 1,805 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 1,324 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in Woodward by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WWD shares. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $172.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $193.63.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total transaction of $864,156.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,845,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, 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 have sold 27,900 shares of company stock valued at $5,215,444 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $170.67 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $181.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.98. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $144.45 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.45 EPS. Analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were given 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 was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

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.