B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Purchases New Position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,145 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $548,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $899,431,000 after purchasing an additional 77,654 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,380,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $240,711,000 after purchasing an additional 34,946 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 13.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $110,679,000 after purchasing an additional 74,734 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Woodward by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 541,496 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $94,426,000 after purchasing an additional 16,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Woodward by 94.2% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $75,735,000 after purchasing an additional 210,746 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price target (down previously from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.67.

Woodward Price Performance

WWD stock opened at $167.62 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.64. The company has a market capitalization of $10.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.37. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.03 and a 52-week high of $188.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.96.

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

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s 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.