FIL Ltd Increases Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 28.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 458,886 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 100,958 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.77% of Woodward worth $76,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $209,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Woodward by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,255 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,673,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 51.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 42,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,236,000 after buying an additional 14,326 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 0.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 28,734 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 4.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after buying an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $172.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $193.25.

Woodward Stock Performance

Woodward stock opened at $174.89 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $144.45 and a 12 month high of $201.64. The company has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.95 and its 200-day moving average is $177.01.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. Woodward’s payout ratio is presently 18.76%.

Insider Activity

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

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.