Woodward, Inc. $WWD Stock Position Raised by Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 7.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Woodward were worth $3,747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WWD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Woodward by 31.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 639,139 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $156,646,000 after buying an additional 154,071 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Woodward in the 1st quarter worth about $25,667,000. Senator Investment Group LP acquired a new stake in Woodward during the 1st quarter worth about $22,355,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in Woodward during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,208,000. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in Woodward by 164.5% during the 1st quarter. Eisler Capital Management Ltd. now owns 178,139 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $32,503,000 after acquiring an additional 110,799 shares in the last quarter. 81.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WWD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Alembic Global Advisors raised shares of Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research set a $300.00 price target on shares of Woodward and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on Woodward from $200.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Woodward currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.67.

Woodward Price Performance

NASDAQ WWD opened at $257.64 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a PE ratio of 40.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $253.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $243.45. Woodward, Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.82 and a 12-month high of $274.50.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.72%.

Insider Transactions at Woodward

In other Woodward news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. The trade was a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.