Woodward, Inc. $WWD Shares Purchased by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 139,546 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Woodward were worth $34,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 7,649 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of Woodward by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 165,286 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $30,163,000 after purchasing an additional 1,146 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $294,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,682,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WWD shares. Barclays raised their price target on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Woodward to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD opened at $265.49 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.82 and a 1 year high of $270.21. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $248.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $234.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.92 billion, a PE ratio of 42.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 2.04.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $884.98 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.32% and a return on equity of 16.57%. Woodward’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,680.16. This trade represents a 7.70% 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 the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.