Ethic Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Woodward, Inc. $WWD

Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) by 291.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,610 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,431 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Woodward were worth $1,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Newport Trust Company LLC raised its holdings in shares of Woodward by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 2,193,238 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $400,244,000 after buying an additional 49,481 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Woodward by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,092,257 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $199,326,000 after purchasing an additional 51,873 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Woodward by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 637,888 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $116,408,000 after purchasing an additional 9,386 shares during the period. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Woodward by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 593,148 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $108,244,000 after purchasing an additional 32,225 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Woodward by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 486,281 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $88,743,000 after purchasing an additional 4,432 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group upped their price target on Woodward from $283.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Woodward from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday. Truist Financial upped their price target on Woodward from $267.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors raised Woodward from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $281.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $268.67.

Woodward Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $265.82 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $15.94 billion, a PE ratio of 42.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Woodward, Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.82 and a 52-week high of $267.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $247.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $232.47.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The technology company reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $915.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $884.98 million. Woodward had a return on equity of 16.57% and a net margin of 11.32%.The business’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Woodward, Inc. will post 6.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John D. Cohn sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $244.32, for a total value of $427,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,680.16. This represents a 7.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is currently 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.