Bank of America Corp DE Reduces Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 853,751 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 37,868 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 1.44% of Woodward worth $142,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Berbice Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Woodward in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Woodward during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Woodward in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Woodward by 94.2% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 371 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director Gregg C. Sengstack sold 4,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.86, for a total value of $864,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,450 shares in the company, valued at $3,278,157. This represents a 20.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed 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, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.49, for a total value of $1,864,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 15,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,886,305.73. This trade represents a 39.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 30,700 shares of company stock valued at $5,751,700 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WWD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $187.00 target price on Woodward and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Woodward from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Woodward from $205.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $175.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Woodward has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $195.00.

Woodward Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $196.36 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.07. 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 12-month low of $145.98 and a 12-month high of $201.64.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The technology company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $883.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $838.61 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 16.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.09%.

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.