Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 5,758,261 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,011 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.55% of Woodward worth $783,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Woodward by 79.3% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 199 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Woodward by 4,177.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in Woodward by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 491 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $143.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Woodward from $156.00 to $172.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on Woodward from $140.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.38.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $183.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $173.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.62. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $113.36 and a 1 year high of $188.35.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $835.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $807.04 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 16.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 22nd were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total value of $1,002,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $2,914,324.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.12% 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.