Sanctuary Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,286 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WWD. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in Woodward during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Berbice Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Woodward during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Woodward in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Woodward by 44.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.54, for a total transaction of $1,795,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,066,684.94. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 32,400 shares of company stock valued at $5,844,768. 0.82% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Woodward Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of WWD stock opened at $183.06 on Tuesday. Woodward, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $136.25 and a fifty-two week high of $201.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.87 billion, a PE ratio of 30.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.95.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 3rd. The technology company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 18.76%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on WWD. Truist Financial raised their target price 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $216.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Woodward from $193.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $197.38.

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.