Diversified Trust Co Purchases New Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,528 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 7.1% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 29,326 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,633,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in Woodward by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 26,791 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,329,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Woodward during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,226,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,911,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 1,179.6% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,703 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $957,000 after purchasing an additional 7,101 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.01, for a total value of $1,002,060.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,914,324.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

WWD opened at $172.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 2.62. The company has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.30 and a 200-day moving average of $154.56. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.90 and a 52-week high of $188.35.

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

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.