State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 6,776 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,617 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 6,776 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Woodward were worth $3,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WWD. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Woodward by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,128 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $84,157,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its position in shares of Woodward by 146.7% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 9,275 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 5,515 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter valued at about $531,000. 81.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Truist Financial raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.11.

Woodward Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of WWD opened at $163.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.03 and a 1 year high of $188.35. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $165.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.29.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The technology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.11. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The business had revenue of $847.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.48%.

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.