Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 24,263 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lowered its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 655,771 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 24,263 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.10% of Woodward worth $114,361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 1.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after purchasing an additional 77,654 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 12.3% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after purchasing an additional 147,856 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 6.7% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 559,964 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $86,302,000 after purchasing an additional 35,281 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 3.1% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 541,496 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $94,426,000 after purchasing an additional 16,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 94.2% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after purchasing an additional 210,746 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $169.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.03 and a 1-year high of $188.35. The business’s 50 day moving average is $164.49 and its 200-day moving average is $166.37.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $847.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $853.29 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 17.16% and a net margin of 11.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price target on Woodward from $200.00 to $186.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.11.

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.