Assetmark Inc. Buys 69 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 401 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $67,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. bought a new position in Woodward during the third quarter worth about $99,000,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $170,170,000 after buying an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT bought a new position in Woodward in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,045,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Woodward by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP raised its holdings in Woodward by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $53,383,000 after acquiring an additional 64,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,278,157. The trade was a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of Woodward stock opened at $180.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Woodward, Inc. has a 1 year low of $144.45 and a 1 year high of $201.64. The firm has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.05.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.21. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $197.38.

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.