LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Decreases Stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lowered its position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,973 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 706 shares during the quarter. Woodward accounts for approximately 1.7% of LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $12,144,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in Woodward during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Woodward in the third quarter valued at about $41,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 101.6% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 246 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on WWD shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,764,325.91. The trade was a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.65, for a total value of $1,776,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,044,929.15. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WWD opened at $189.12 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.17 and a 200 day moving average of $169.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $11.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.39. Woodward, Inc. has a 12 month low of $133.56 and a 12 month high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.19. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $810.39 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.64%.

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.