Blue Trust Inc. Buys 432 Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,003 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $686,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WWD. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after buying an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Woodward by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $219,321,000 after purchasing an additional 59,290 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the period. Naya Capital Management UK Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Woodward during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $99,000,000. Finally, Alpha Wave Global LP increased its holdings in shares of Woodward by 26.0% during the third quarter. Alpha Wave Global LP now owns 311,253 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $53,383,000 after purchasing an additional 64,212 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 7,913 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.13, for a total transaction of $1,385,803.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 11,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,015,921.43. This trade represents a 40.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total value of $430,968.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at $3,764,325.91. This represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072. Company insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WWD opened at $185.90 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $178.80 and its 200-day moving average is $170.56. Woodward, Inc. has a 1-year low of $133.56 and a 1-year high of $201.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.39.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company’s revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Woodward, Inc. will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Woodward from $226.00 to $229.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. StockNews.com raised Woodward from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Woodward presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.11.

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.