Creative Planning Trims Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Creative Planning decreased its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 67.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,191 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 10,583 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Woodward were worth $890,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 94.2% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 434,385 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $75,735,000 after buying an additional 210,746 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Woodward by 12.3% in the 1st quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,345,438 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $207,359,000 after buying an additional 147,856 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Woodward by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,835,915 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $899,431,000 after buying an additional 77,654 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Woodward by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after buying an additional 74,734 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Woodward by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 226,909 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $34,971,000 after buying an additional 46,005 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Woodward from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Woodward from $228.00 to $201.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial raised shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $152.00 to $187.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $174.67.

Woodward Price Performance

Woodward stock opened at $161.32 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $126.31 and a 52 week high of $188.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.37.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. 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 0.62%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.72%.

About Woodward

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.