Avior Wealth Management LLC Reduces Holdings in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,800 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Woodward were worth $517,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Woodward in the third quarter worth $4,911,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Woodward by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,721,250 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,923,000 after acquiring an additional 59,884 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in Woodward by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 998,396 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $124,061,000 after purchasing an additional 61,216 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Woodward by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 381,273 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $47,377,000 after purchasing an additional 40,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,059 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.86, for a total value of $208,290.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 20,531 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,934.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Fawzy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $1,540,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $677,040. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,200 shares of company stock valued at $7,242,916 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.12% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Trading Down 0.3 %

WWD stock opened at $146.81 on Friday. Woodward, Inc. has a 52 week low of $91.42 and a 52 week high of $160.79. The company has a market cap of $8.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.38.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The technology company reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $786.73 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $750.13 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 15.26% and a net margin of 9.50%. The firm’s revenue was up 27.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Woodward, Inc. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Woodward Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from Woodward’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Woodward’s payout ratio is 21.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WWD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Woodward from $136.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded Woodward from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $148.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Woodward from $159.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Woodward from $168.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $158.22.

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.